Unfathomable Love Series 1: years of denial
by Mireilles3
Summary: LM: ULS 1 covers from before ANH to Dark Empire, filling in the holes of LM's early relationship. The stories are chronologically presented instead of being posted seperately because it is a series of stories ;P LM fans, hope you'll have fun too :
1. PreDestined Soulmates: First Encounter

Predestined Soulmates  
Part 1: First encounter  
By SJ 16-11-99/06-2002  
  
________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. I'm only writing stories for fun.  
See my homepage for more details.  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her   
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving   
me some of your precious time, my friend :)  
  
Time: 2 years before ANH  
__________________  
  
  
  
As she gazed at the double sunrise that was taking place along the horizon of   
what the locals called the Dune Sea, sixteen-year-old Mara Jade pondered how she   
was going to fulfill her newest mission for her master.  
  
She had barely finished her report about her last mission when he had informed   
her that he had felt a disturbance in the Force, then had ordered her to comb   
dreary Tatooine and find it.  
  
Hence, here she was, garbed in the traditional tan-colored robes of a   
Tatooine native, scanning the horizon while probing with the Force in hopes   
of finding a clue of what she was looking for.  
  
A Jedi.  
  
Her master had been very specific, she reminded herself to quash her doubts   
about his feelings; what he had detected had been a powerful Jedi, perhaps   
untrained, but he hadn't felt his presence long enough ascertain this status.  
  
However, he 'knew', as she now did, that he was a man, and that he needed to   
be taken care of before any Jedi could resurface in the galaxy.  
  
Since Lord Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith and the Emperor`s most accomplished   
Jedi hunter, was currently involved in touchy operations regarding a growing,   
potentially dangerous Rebellion, their master had sent her, his Hand, to find   
the Jedi and capture him if possible. If she couldn't, she naturally had to   
kill him.  
  
While Mara was sensitive to the Force, she knew that she wasn't exactly   
powerful. Hence, she was once again facing the limit of her abilities: she   
couldn't locate a Jedi's presence anywhere on the planet.  
  
Sighing heavily to herself, she decided to use other means to find the   
possibly hiding Jedi. If he were shielding himself, she 'knew' that she would   
never find him. On the other hand, she thought with a grim smirk, she had other   
ways to hunt down her target. On a desert planet such as this one, she   
estimated that everything had to be known and could be found if one asked the   
right questions.  
  
Covering her head from the steadily growing heat of the double suns as they   
began their slow course toward their zenith, she walked down the streets,   
searching for the right place to ask the right questions.  
  
She found it in the form of a local bar/cafe which seemed a tad more inviting   
than the cantinas that were peppered all over the seedy town of Bestine.  
  
  
******  
  
  
Not far from there, in a shop for used mechanical parts, Luke Skywalker, aged of   
sixteen, browsed the content of the shelves that were gathered in the back   
store of the establishment. After his last escapade in Beggar's Canyon, the   
best and most dangerous racing ground of the whole planet, his skyhopper   
needed a new booster to be functioning again. Unfortunately, luck seemed to be   
against him these days since even in Bestine, the place where the small crafts   
were delivered, he couldn't find the model he needed to fit his obsolete hopper.   
  
Today was his last day off at the farm, he reminded himself with a pout as he   
admitted defeat once again. If he didn`t find a booster today, he wouldn't be   
able to fix his hopper before his uncle allowed him to fly again... and that   
would keep him grounded for even longer than last time.  
  
Now that would be tough, he sighed forlornly. Even more than when he was flying   
the family's speeder, piloting his small hopper gave him a feeling of freedom he   
could never find anywhere else on the planet. Whenever he flew his hopper, he   
felt as if he were already a true pilot, as if nothing else but flying had ever   
existed in his life.   
  
No farm duties, no mocking companions, no gruff Uncle Owen who kept him from   
presenting his application to the Academy, and, he added more sadly as he   
wandered down the crowded streets, no knowledge that he had never known either   
of his parents...  
  
Oh, he grudgingly conceded to himself, he knew that his father had been a pilot   
aboard big ships; it probably explained his own love for flying, but that was   
about it, and his mother...  
  
He had never known her..., didn't know anything about her, he sighed in well-  
honed resignation as he glanced around to see where his mindless wandering had   
brought him now--- A movement to his left suddenly caught his attention.  
  
He reflexively turned in the direction of the back alley--- and spotted what   
looked like a girl who was backing away from approaching outlaws.  
  
Instantly forgetting both his glum thoughts and his errand, Luke ran toward the   
shop that was located at the end of his alley as he understood the girl's   
predicament; considering the geometry of the last building at the end of the   
alley, he knew that she would be trapped once backed to its side wall. He   
decided that he would be damned if he would abandon her to her fate.   
  
A minute later, he turned the last corner between his target and its sideways   
neighbor, then quickly slowed his pace, careful to not betray his presence to   
the girl's would-be attackers.  
  
  
  
  
  
Mara cursed inwardly even as she continued to back away from the three burly   
individuals. Fool, she berated herself harshly, she should have felt their   
tracking her when she had exited the caf/bar. She shouldn't have let them force   
her in a back alley, yet at the same time, she conceded grimly, she hadn't been   
able to act in the street; getting rid of them in the streets would have blown   
her cover.   
  
Hence, she had allowed them to herd her away from the mainstream circulation...   
but unlike the back-wall and side-alley that she had been expecting, she had   
just discovered that the end of her current alley was a dead-end. It was now or   
never, she reflected grimly even as she flicked her wrist; her pocket blaster   
slapped audibly into her left palm while she abandoned her pretense of being   
afraid.  
  
Her attackers naturally noticed her new, far-from-afraid expression, but before   
they could react, or that she herself could truly level her weapon to finish   
them, a strong hand shot out from behind her and pulled her around the corner of   
the last side alley before she had completely backed herself into a dead end.  
  
"Run!" was the only explanation she got before what seemed to be a young man   
dragged her after him as he barreled down the narrow alley.  
  
Acting on instinct, Mara didn't resist his pull and followed him; they quickly   
left her stunned attackers behind.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" she inquired indignantly to her would-be   
rescuer once they were back in the open street.  
  
Her 'hero' momentarily abandoned his study of their next action to gaze at her,   
then his naive, blue eyes widened in obvious worry and he turned tail again,   
pulling her after himself once again.  
  
Cursing slightly under her breath, Mara turned her head around to see what he   
had seen as well as what was tugging at her mind--- and swore openly as she   
noticed that the three thugs had recovered from their shock.  
  
They were already hot on their heels.   
  
For a moment, she considered leveling her blaster and take a shot at them, but   
the streets were still too crowded for her to risk her cover. Besides, she   
reminded herself, she wasn't alone at the moment; she had to protect her true   
identity from being discovered.  
  
She had no doubt that no matter how foolish the youth were, he would notice the   
presence of her customized weapon in her hand... and might just betray her   
presence to a potential enemy. No, she decided even as she ran onward, she   
couldn't take action just now.  
  
She hid her weapon in the folds of her robe and followed the young man's lead as   
he literally flew down the crowded streets, frantically cutting through the   
relatively thick, protesting assembly of early buyers--- and he suddenly ducked   
into another side alley. She cursed once again at his sharp movement even as   
she barely managed to retain her balance due to the sharp turn.  
  
Once she was back in control, she glanced around them to survey her new   
location---- but her self-assigned rescuer sharply turned yet again on their   
left, almost pulling her arm out of her socket before her feet caught up with   
his brain and followed his guidance; they both went down the stairs of an   
underground entrance.  
  
"Sshhh," he whispered to her even as he hid her behind himself, deep in the   
shadows of the stairwell's overhang.  
  
She first meant to remind him that their pursuant would notice their suddenly   
stopping tracks in the sand, but as she reflexively continued her study of their   
surroundings, she belatedly noticed that the boy had brought her into one of the   
rare sand-free, rocky alleys of the planet.  
  
The moment that they had left the main street, she realized, they hadn't left   
anymore traces behind them.  
  
Well, well, she conceded even as she locked her gaze on what she could see   
of the street above them, the boy might not be half as crazy as she had   
first estimated. However, she sneered slightly, he naively trusted her, never   
taking his eyes off the top of the stairs to gaze at her. Lucky for him that   
she wasn't supposed to kill him, she thought sarcastically before she resumed   
her surveillance. Adding a Force-scan to her wary senses, she meanly wondered   
how the 'hero' meant to keep the others at bay if they found them.  
  
As far as she knew, he wasn't armed and was quite harmless himself.  
  
  
  
  
  
While Luke tried to pant as silently as he could, he carefully kept out of   
the lit area of his chosen hiding place. He really didn't know how he had   
known that he could hide the girl in this entrance, nor that it had even   
existed, but he was glad for the streak of unexplainable inspiration.   
  
When he had spotted the ruffians as they had come out of the alley, he had   
recognized them as 'the' trouble-makers in Bestine. Normally, he would have   
steered as far away from them as he could, but he had also been unable to   
abandon the enshrouded girl to them; he had had to help her.  
  
Sudden noise coming from above drew him back to the here and now; the Marauders   
had caught up with them and were searching the alley. Behind him, he felt the   
girl tense in worry; he backed them slightly further in the shadows even as his   
blue eyes remained locked on the area above them. A rough voice ordered his   
companions to search around, then scuffling noises on the rocky ground came   
closer and closer, informing them that someone was searching the alley that was   
just above them.  
  
Luke held his breath when the taller of the three men peered down in the  
stairwell, bent down slightly to check further in the shadows--- then their   
companion suddenly called out for him to come and check up with them. As if   
hesitant, the other threw a last look under the shadowy entrance, then   
straightened and ran away.  
  
The young man silently breathed out in relief a few seconds later; his companion   
also relaxed against him and lowered her right arm from against his back.  
  
"Looks like we lost them," he whispered even as he turned around to reassure the   
young woman.  
  
"For the moment," she retorted coolly, taking a step away from him, as if in   
fright or worry, he reflected.  
  
"Don't worry," he reassured her, "I don't mean you any harm. Are you all right?"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Despite her rigorous training and her equally rigorous self-control, Mara   
couldn't help but gape at the boy for at least a fraction of a second. When he   
had come out of nowhere, she had accepted his help as the only option available   
to lose her pursuant, but the moment that the danger had walked away, she had   
expected him to gloat about his helping her, or even request some kind of fee   
for the assistance, but instead, the boy seemed genuinely worried about her.  
  
She put away her blaster, which had been trained on the boy`s knee.  
  
"I'm fine," she answered, then stepped aside and forward, pushing past him   
to leave their temporary shelter. "However," she added warningly as she   
walked past him, "I didn't need your help; I could have dealt with those   
goons."  
  
The youth stared at her at this, then recovered his wits as he followed her   
outside of the shadowy overhang.  
  
"Well, that wasn't the impression I had from the street," he shot back with   
slight annoyance in his voice. "They looked too much for you alone."  
  
Instantly upset by his perception of her as a harmless girl, Mara whirled back   
toward him, meaning to shove him in the nearby wall and teach him that she   
'wasn't' vulnerable--- when she caught her first, real sight of her rescuer   
since 'meeting' him.  
  
The moment her eyes met his beautiful blue eyes, she stilled in mid-motion.   
  
So handsome..., was her first, coherent thought once she recovered from her   
most unusual loss of composure. The youth, obviously a farmboy from a local   
community, was tan-skinned and dressed in drab clothes, but what struck her   
the most was his fair-hair; they seemed to have caught the light of the   
double suns and now shone with it. She then estimated that he was around her   
age, perhaps a little younger, but she didn't trust her judgment on this matter;   
a small dimple in his chin and his unruly fair-hair seemed to give him an   
eternal boyish look.  
  
The more she gazed straight in his delicate blue eyes, the more she forgot   
what she had meant to answer to him, and the more she indulged in an in-depth   
study of the most handsome youth she had ever seen.   
  
His eyes weren't light blue like those of Wookiees, nor were they dark blue.   
Instead, they were like those of a newborn baby... as if the boy had never   
grown, she dimly reflected. While gazing in his equally enraptured eyes, she   
became aware that his healthy suntan was enhancing their coloring, as did his   
sun-streaked hair and his white/beige tunic. Slowly shifting her eyes to   
study the rest of him, she also realized that unlike what she had first   
estimated, the youth was fairly healthy, his shoulders wider than the average   
for his age... and how old was he?, she wondered in growing interest. He   
couldn't be more than eighteen, she surmised even as her eyes ventured further   
downward, toward his earth brown trousers and matching utility boots. Judging   
from their drab status, she estimated that he wasn't part of the upper class of   
the planet which meant that he was probably living on a moisture farm or working   
on one.  
  
The dust on his boots seemed to confirm this; before she could study him   
further however, or even ask him a question, he spoke up.  
  
"What's your name?" he inquired shyly, as if, she reflected in slight amusement,   
he was afraid to upset her with his question.  
  
She then conceded that it should indeed upset her, but strangely enough, it   
wasn't the case at the moment. However, she determined to not reveal her   
true identity.  
  
"You can call me Arica," she answered him, locking her gaze back on his   
captivating one.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Luke had been so engrossed in the sight of the beautiful young woman that he   
hadn't noticed how she had been studying his every characteristic. For his   
part, he was still dumbstruck by her fiery red-yet-streaked-with-blond hair; he   
had never seen such hair color, couldn't even compare them with anything he had   
ever seen. Giving up on this attempt, he once again refocused on her eyes...   
and stopped breathing once again. Jewel green eyes kept sparkling at him, as if   
hiding a most unique treasure from his sight... then she answered his dumb   
question and he suddenly saw past the veil of secrecy; he lost any ability to   
think straight.  
  
Even he could feel that Arica wasn't her real name, it seemed to tell him what a   
wonderful being she was in fact.  
  
"And you?," she inquired, pulling him out of his reverie. "You're a local   
farmboy, aren't you?"  
  
"I, huh..." he hesitated slightly, dimly wondering how she knew so much about   
him already. "I help my uncle at our farm," he answered her with a slight blush   
of shame. Not exactly the most prestigious thing to say to a gorgeous young   
woman, he berated himself inwardly. "I`m L---" he began, trying to introduce   
himself properly this time, but the girl didn't let him continue.  
  
Instead, she swiftly pulled him close to herself and plastered her hand over his   
lips, efficiently silencing him.  
  
"I don't want to know your name, farmboy," she whispered fiercely, pinning him   
with her suddenly, unsettling cold glare. "For your sake," she added, then gazed   
at him until he had nodded although he wasn't sure he understood the reason of   
her request.  
  
She finally let him go--- and he belatedly noticed that the young woman   
was not dressed only in a typical Tatooine tunic/robe. She was wearing a   
high-collared shirt under it... and he could now see what looked like a secret   
weapon-like thing around her left, half-exposed wrist.  
  
"You... You're not from around here," he stated hesitantly while slowly backing   
away from the stranger.  
  
"I told you that I wouldn't have needed your help, farmboy," she answered coolly   
even as she hid her right hand behind her back---- and pulled a blaster on him!  
  
Feeling his heart sink in his boots at this turn of events, Luke reflexively   
closed his eyes in fright and horror, expecting her to shoot him from point   
blank range and be done with him.   
  
As he went through his last moment, his thoughts went to his uncle who had   
always told him that his naivete and daydreaming would eventually get him   
killed... Looked like he had been right once again, the youth admitted sadly to   
himself, and he himself, foolish boy that he was, was once again learning it too   
late.... Then nothing.  
  
However, instead of hearing the sound of a blaster fire, or feeling any final   
agony, he heard the sound of a piece of metal slapping against leather, then the   
shuffling of feet on the concrete ground.   
  
Hesitantly, he peeped his left eye open; his right one followed suite even as   
his mouth gaped open in disbelief.  
  
"You... you're not going to kill me?" he asked her hesitantly, almost afraid   
of giving her bad ideas.  
  
  
  
  
  
For a moment, Mara stared at the confused farmboy, reflecting that his naivete   
and foolishness made him even more attractive than he already was.  
  
"No," she shook her head in reassurance even as she crossed her arms in front of   
herself. "You are not my target," she explained to him even as she reminded   
herself that her decision to not kill the boy might still upset her master if   
she didn't take other dispositions in his regard.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
While Luke reflected that her excuse for not shooting him was not 'very'   
reassuring, a more naive part of himself sighed in relief and renewed being   
interested toward the mysterious, beautiful young woman.  
  
He searched her eyes yet again and gazed straight into her jewel-green pools of   
color. They were unlike any eyes he had ever seen: cool yet warm, hard yet   
soft... and as mesmerizing as precious gems he had only seen in books at school.   
They were, he thought wistfully, as if the girl had gazed at the trees that were   
said to grow on non-desertic planets, and that the green of their leaves had   
imprinted itself in her eyes.  
  
The object of his thoughts suddenly turned away--- heading for the higher   
ground, he realized.  
  
"Jade, wait!" he called reflexively even as he took a step closer to her to   
keep her from leaving this fast.  
  
  
  
  
Mara, who had decided to not put the boy in anymore danger, had turned to leave   
when the other called her by her last name.  
  
She whirled around, her hand instantly going for her weapon; where had he   
learnt---  
  
Her hand never reached her goal. The moment her eyes met with his, she   
understood that he too wondered why he had called her by that word, that he was   
still as clueless as ever about her. She forced her tensed muscles to relax but   
she remained in her position on the second step of the small staircase.  
  
"Take care of yourself, Farmboy," she told him coolly and turned away from his   
tantalizing presence.  
  
She had barely thought about climbing up another stop when his hand took hold of   
hers once again.  
  
"Jade, wait!" the young man told her earnestly, keeping her yet again from   
leaving.  
  
Mara turned back toward him, scowling in annoyance at his insistence; she   
purposefully loomed over him to warn him to not push her too far.  
  
"I, huh," the boy hesitated upon decoding her miffed attitude. "I just   
thought... you know, I'm headed for Mos Eisley, and, well, I thought you   
might need a ride to leave Bestine without any new problems..." he finished,   
slightly hopefully.  
  
Taken aback by his generous offer, she leaned slightly away from him, then   
pondered her decision. A few minutes ago, she had decided that for his sake, she   
had to put an end to her contact with him before it was too late for both of   
their safeties, but at the moment, her cool reasoning didn't seem to make sense   
anymore.   
  
Instead, her eyes were riveted on his beautiful, gentle blue eyes... and her   
cool self yielded to the warm feelings that she was currently feeling for the   
mysterious farmboy.  
  
After all, she thought seriously, if she did go with the intriguing young man,   
she would be able to enjoy his company for a while longer, but... she would   
also have to take some measure or another against him once she would leave   
him... but only later.  
  
"All right," she nodded even as her mind reminded her that her ship was berthed   
in this town; she couldn't leave it here without surveillance. "But first," she   
raised her finger to forestall a too enthusiastic reaction from the boy, "I need   
to check on my ship."  
  
"You have a ship?" the farmboy instantly gaped in disbelief. "Wow! I... may I   
see it?"   
  
Taken aback yet again by the boy's genuine earnestness, she remained silent   
until she had recovered from her own surprise. Whoever the boy was, she   
admitted to herself, he was unlike anyone she had ever met before.  
  
  
  
  
Luke gazed earnestly at the young woman, unable to believe that 'she' could be   
his one chance to see a ship for real. Ever since he had begun to play with   
models as a child, he had wanted to see one from a close-up range, but his uncle   
had never taken him in the spaceport of Mos Eisley... and no ship ever landed in   
Anchorhead or the flats of the Dune Sea. The only crafts he had ever seen and   
flown were his skyhopper and his family's speeder.   
  
"Please?" he asked again, "I promise I won't touch anything."  
  
"All right," the young woman nodded after a few more seconds of silent debate.   
  
She then turned her back to him once again before she gathered her skirt up and   
climbed up the short stairs. Luke followed her out of their hiding place,   
unable to hide the delighted grin he now harbored.  
  
In front of him, the girl covered her head once again with her cowl then swiftly   
headed for the far side alley which was at the end of their alley.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
The short walk from the alley to the docking bay went without any new mishaps.   
After a stern warning to the youth to not ask her questions in public, she and   
the farmboy had silently made their way to the landing pit and had entered it.  
  
However, the arrival to the pit went less discreetly.  
  
"Wow!" the young man gaped like an idiot at the sight of her run-down/state-of-  
the-art ship. "You really own that ship?" he asked her incredulously, turning   
his unbelieving blue eyes toward her.  
  
For a moment, Mara felt herself drown once again in their ocean of blue   
simplicity and naivete, then shook herself out of her reverie. "Actually, it   
belongs to my task master," she answered with a shrug.  
  
The Emperor had indeed given her the Night Chaser as her own, personal ship for   
her many missions, but she had no delusions about its true owner; it was still   
her master's. He owned everything in the galaxy, as it was meant to be for the   
universe was rightfully his, she recited automatically; were this statement   
false, she then reasoned coolly, he wouldn't be the most powerful Dark Jedi of   
all times.  
  
Pulling herself out of her musings, she noticed how the farmboy was still   
studying the design of her ship as if he had never seen a real spaceship before.   
She dimly wondered if he even suspected how well armed the 'old' crate truly   
was.   
  
"Stay here, I won't be long," she instructed him curtly, starting for the hatch   
of her ship.  
  
"Jade, wait," he called once again, taking a step closer to her.  
  
Suppressing a sight of annoyance at his earnest habits, she slowly turned her   
head in his direction... and met with the expectancy of a boy who was currently   
dreaming while awake.  
  
"I... do you mind if I go inside with you?" he asked her earnestly. "I've never   
been in a starship before."  
  
For a moment, Mara debated with herself if it was wise to reveal to him yet   
another secret about her life, but when she gazed once again in the depth of his   
eyes, she understood that no harm would come out of her taking him with her. If   
she didn't take him aboard though, 'she' would hurt him.  
  
"All right, come on but don't touch anything," she warned him sternly.  
  
Once he had nodded in agreement, she led him toward her ship.  
  
  
  
TBC in part 2: The way of the Force  
  
  
  
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)  
  
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the   
Sarlacc's throat without even being read.) 


	2. part 2: The Way of the Force

Predestined Soulmates  
Part 2: The Way of the Force  
By SJ 29-05-02/06-2002  
  
  
________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. I'm only writing stories for fun.  
See my homepage for more details.  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her   
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving   
me some of your precious time, my friend :)  
__________________  
  
  
  
  
Careful to not look as if he were disobeying the young woman, Luke followed Jade   
into the corridor, then the cockpit of the ship.  
  
There, he stopped at the threshold of the hatch and gazed around himself in awe.   
The boards, the piloting station, the helm... It was exactly like how he had   
imagined them to be. It turned out to be quite a shock to him since everyone   
had managed to convince him that his images had been delusions of his   
imagination. However, he jubilated inwardly, he could now see that they   
weren't.   
  
And if they weren't, he thought in renewed hope, then his feeling that he could   
fly a ship without even any training might just be true as well.   
  
Suddenly, the image of the cockpit disappeared from his mind and was replaced by   
that of him at the helm of the ship, flying into deep space and fighting against   
enemies who had come out of nowhere, 'but they wouldn't get him', he resolved.   
He saw himself flip switches and steer the ship in a new direction, skillfully   
avoiding dangerous laser blasts---  
  
"Hey, you awake?" Jade's voice suddenly cut in his reverie and pulled him back   
down to the reality of his farmboy's life.   
  
More snaps of her fingers in front of his face pushed away his remaining daze.  
  
"I... huh, yeah," he grinned sheepishly. "I was just thinking that I'd love to   
be a pilot," he admitted to her, dimly wondering why he was telling her about   
this in the first place.  
  
"I know what you mean," the woman nodded in understanding even as she lightly   
took hold of his arm and directed him back the way they had come. "I'm done   
here. Let's retrieve your speeder and be on our way."  
  
"Oh, huh... right," Luke nodded in understanding even though he was disappointed   
to leave this soon.  
  
He wanted to see more of the ship, to perhaps be granted a spin in it... but   
Jade seemed to have other ideas in mind. She didn't rough him up in any way,   
but she didn't give him any choice either but to exit the ship before she sealed   
it behind them.  
  
They then cleared the area of the landing pad, then Jade pulled a remote from   
her belt and activated it.  
  
Luke watched the only ship he had ever seen in his life, and perhaps the last   
one he'd ever see, as it slowly rose from the ground before it slowly yet   
gracefully pushed itself upward and rose toward the untouchable sky.  
  
Some day, he promised himself, he would be aboard such a ship, on his way off   
this dust ball of a planet.  
  
  
  
  
Mara carefully studied her ship as it lifted off, paying attention to any   
indication that the engine had been damaged while she had been away. The craft   
lifted off without any mishap and was soon little more than a sparkling dot   
against the blue backdrop of the morning sky.  
  
"Well I don't know who your task master is, Jade," the youth commented softly   
beside her, "but he must be powerful to 'give' you such a ship to work with."  
  
Puzzled by the boy's comment, she turned her head sideways to gaze at him; his   
eyes were still locked on the sky, as if he could still track her ship, she   
reflected seriously.   
  
"He is," she nodded curtly in answer to the youth's reflection, then pulled her   
hood back over her bright red-gold hair and tucked her remote control back in   
her utility belt, under her robe.   
  
Wordlessly, she turned around to leave the landing pit; the farmboy took a few   
seconds to follow her. On their way to his speeder, she dimly wondered what she   
had to understand from his suddenly glum feelings.  
  
  
******  
  
  
Perhaps ten minutes after they had left the town, the farmboy still hadn't   
recovered his more naive, brighter mood. Even though she didn't know him at   
all, Mara could feel that it was not his normal behavior, that something was   
greatly bothering him.  
  
Against her every imperial instincts and lessons, she asked him what was wrong.  
  
At first, only silence and the wind tearing past her hair and ears answered   
her... then a sigh.  
  
She noticed that it was not one of annoyance like those she was used to produce   
or see, nor even those of discouragement, which were common with the regular   
populace; instead, it was one filled with sorrow and regret.  
  
"Perhaps seeing your ship wasn't a good idea," the young man commented   
cryptically, effectively shedding the image that she had had up to now of an   
innocent, barely grown boy... for that of a serious, thoughtful young man.  
  
This discovery left her so speechless that she could barely nod to encourage him   
to continue.  
  
"I've been trying to register in the Imperial Academy for three seasons now," he   
explained to her, his eyes locked on a spot in front of them. "Every time, I   
got selected and wanted to go."  
  
"But?" she prompted him, aware of where he was going with this.  
  
"My uncle won't let me go," he answered sadly. "He says that he needs me for   
the harvest, that it's only for one more season, but up to now, the same   
scenario has been repeating itself every new season... and I'm still here."  
  
"Why don't you run away then?" she suggested seriously, pushing a streak of hair   
out of her eyes as a sudden gust of side wind pushed it across her eyes.   
  
Having taken her eyes off the boy for a fraction of a second, she was thus   
uncharacteristically startled when he whirled toward her, his face a study of   
emotional pains, hopes,... and plain disbelief at her proposal.  
  
"And leave my aunt and uncle to survive on their own in this desert?" he asked   
her indignantly. "I'd rather die here than abandon them," he answered, dead-  
serious.  
  
Despite her most rigorous training and her frequent experiences with her   
dangerous, powerful master, Mara Jade couldn't help but swallow in uneasiness as   
the suddenly defiant/determinate, icy blue eyes of the boy rested on her.  
  
This young man was much more than what he seemed, she dimly reflected even as   
she watched the powerful gaze slowly soften back to its more 'familiar' kindness   
and warmth.   
  
"I'm sorry," the youth apologized softly for his outburst, "it's just that they   
are the only family I have. They took care of me ever since my father died. I   
can't turn my back on them," he finished sadly, focusing back on his piloting.   
"It wouldn't be right," he mumbled to himself.  
  
So many emotions, Mara thought in unusual kindness as she continued to gaze at   
the profile of her glum companion. The farmboy cared so much for those who had   
and still raised him that he didn't even think about fulfilling his own dreams   
until they wouldn't need him anymore.  
  
Even though she was aware that she had only heard about the tip of the ice   
block, she could feel that if the farmboy waited for 'that' day to happen to   
leave... it would never happen.  
  
"But enough about me," the object of her thoughts commented in the silence, then   
turned his head once again in her direction. "What about you? How did you   
become a secret agent while this young?"  
  
"Secret agent?" she slightly glared at him, feeling uncomfortable with the fact   
that he had hit this close to the mark... A mark she had been trying to keep   
secret from him.   
  
"Well, something along those lines anyway," he smiled sheepishly. "So, how did   
it happen?"  
  
For a moment, Mara turned away from him and gazed straight ahead of them. The   
sand dunes were constantly growing closer yet they were endlessly stretching as   
far as the horizon went. Very much like her master's domain, she reflected   
even as she considered how unhappy he would be when he would find out how she   
had 'dealt' with the boy.  
  
Not answering his questions would at least help to appease his anger, she   
thought seriously--- yet her heart decided otherwise once again.  
  
"My master found me and trained me since I was little," she answered him   
truthfully. "He saved me from slavery and gave me all the knowledge I needed to   
survive on my own. I chose to serve him to thank him for saving me," she   
revealed, dimly aware that she had never, ever been this truthful with anybody   
before, not even herself.   
  
"I'm sorry," the boy answered softly, giving her a warm, compassionate gaze   
before refocusing forward.   
  
Mara frowned at his word and turned around to gaze at him once again. "For   
what?" she asked even as she reflexively noticed the presence of a survival   
shelter in the distance and on their left. It too zipped past them and   
disappeared behind a sand dune as the speeder flew onward.  
  
"Well, for---"  
  
The farmboy never had time to complete his explanation before they were both   
almost thrown out of their seats as the speeder suddenly bucked hard under them-  
-- and stalled completely.  
  
  
  
  
  
Once recovered from his shock, Luke became aware that the speeder had completely   
stopped, stranding them right smack dab in the middle of the Dune Sea.   
  
"Great," he muttered in annoyance even as he pulled himself out of his seat and   
jumped out of the speeder. "Are you all right?" he asked his companion; she   
nodded in reassurance. "Stay put, I'll take a look at it. It's probably   
nothing," he tried to comfort himself.  
  
He made his way around the front of the speeder. Now that they were immobile,   
he quickly grew aware of the worrying side wind that was ruffling his hair where   
there normally was no air at all, only the stifling heat from the double suns   
which were cooking them mercilessly. Trying to ignore the implication of the   
wind, he pulled the hood of the speeder opened--- and took a few, hasty steps   
backward to protect himself from the scorching heat of the hot engine. As he   
recovered from his unpleasant surprise, he saw that his companion had also   
stepped out of the speeder and had joined him to study the problem.  
  
The first thing he noticed about her this time was that the side winds were most   
unmistakable in her beautiful hair, pushing them toward her left. Even though   
her sight was most beautiful, perhaps even angelic, he admitted to himself that   
he didn't like at all the implication of the winds. He spared a gaze at the sky   
above them; it was still as clear as ever.  
  
"So what's the problem?" she asked him even as she peered at the tangle of wires   
and mechanical parts of the engine. "Oh, looks like the ventilation coil is   
blown," she then commented seriously.  
  
Surprised by her knowledge of mechanic... as well as her accurate evaluation of   
the situation once he checked the engine by himself, Luke turned around to gape   
at her---- and truly gaped in horror at the sight of what was swiftly   
approaching them from behind her.  
  
Without thinking, he grabbed hold of her hand and tore away from the stranded   
speeder. If he remembered right from his memory of the previous minutes, there   
was a survival hut somewhere nearby.  
  
It was their only chance.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Mara was almost indignant at the face the boy began to make at her, but her   
retort died on her lips when his expression changed from surprise to horror.   
She hesitantly turned around to see what he had detected--- and barely gaped in   
turn at the steadily approaching wall of sand and winds before she found herself   
tripping over her feet and the hem of her robe as the farmboy pulled her after   
himself; they set on a flat out run in the opposite direction of the approaching   
sandstorm.  
  
"Where are you going?" she asked him even as she managed to catch her balance   
and drew level with him.  
  
"Survival hut!" was his only answer as he continued to run for their lives.  
  
Understanding his plan, Mara reached out with the Force for a guidance--- and   
pulled him sharply toward the left as she changed their direction. Now it was   
his turn to almost fall face first in the scorching sand.  
  
Behind them, the wall of sand had almost reached the stalled speeder.  
  
"This way!" she answered his unasked question while they both struggled against   
the yielding sand and overheated atmosphere to gain more speed.  
  
She herself knew where the hut was, but she couldn't estimate the distance; what   
she knew though was that if they didn't reach the hut before the almost solid   
wall of wind and sand hit them, they were done for.  
  
Sounds of scorching sands against metal informed them that the storm had already   
reached the speeder. That spurred them on. Ignoring their already ragged   
breaths and burning muscles, they pushed onward, drawing more desperately needed   
speed from their already exhausted bodies.  
  
Behind them, the howling storm seemed to catch on them, slowly nipping at their   
heels while their chosen shelter had yet to show itself in amongst the dunes   
that they were now tackling.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Luke had long since let go of Jade's hands, using both of his hands and feet to   
climb as fast as he could over a sand dune, only to run as fast as possible down   
the other side before repeating the procedure with the following one. Beside   
him, Jade was also struggling against the tumbling sand to not loose terrain to   
the quickly closing storm.  
  
All of a sudden, Jade threw herself over him and made him fall down on the still   
hot sand before she scrabbled back to her feet, pulling him back to his own feet   
in the same occasion.  
  
Still catching his breath from the rough landing, the youth meant to glare at   
her--- until he saw his own speeder, now half buried in the sand dune that was   
directly in front of him; he also caught sight of the dome of the survival hut.   
  
"Come on!" Jade urged him even as she ran as fast as she could toward the now   
revealed hut.   
  
Ignoring his thoroughly depleted energies, Luke found new reserves in himself   
and pushed onward.  
  
As it was, they both reached the vicinity of the hut just as the storm caught   
with them; the moment that it enveloped them in its fury, they closed their eyes   
and protected their exposed skin against the punishment of the scorching sands.   
  
Moving on instinct, blindly trusting his last memory of the location of the   
shelter, Luke fought past his sudden, burning pain and walked onward, trying to   
ignore the stories that he had heard about people dying in the sandstorms and   
others finding only the remains of their bones which had been scraped clean by   
the merciless sands.  
  
A hand suddenly grabbed hold of his tunic and pulled him toward his left--- then   
the buffeting winds and sand disappeared from around him although the sound   
remained.  
  
He opened his eyes just in time to see Jade force the door of the hut closed   
against the wind---- just as a howling gust of wind pushed through a side   
window. Luke frantically looked around himself... and spotted a broken table   
that would almost fit in the opening. He swiftly took hold of it and wedged it   
tightly in the open window.  
  
The howling wind died down once again... and they were alive but stranded in a   
shelter in the middle of nowhere.  
  
  
  
  
  
For a long moment, neither Mara nor the farmboy spoke, both too busy catching   
their breaths and recovering from their flight from Death itself, or so it felt.   
When the youth crumpled to his knees, obviously drained of all his strength, she   
followed suite, strangely feeling comfortable to show her own weakness to him.  
  
If he noticed her shameful state, he didn't say anything; instead, they both   
panted in the near darkness, catching on the fact that they had made it to the   
shelter.  
  
While she recovered from her strenuous exercise, Mara pondered what she had just   
done, not once but twice already.  
  
She had saved the boy's life.  
  
The moment that she had felt the danger for him, she had thrown herself at him,   
pushing him to the ground, thus saving him from the hurtling speeder. Had she   
not followed her instinct, she knew that the boy would have died from the impact   
with the tumbling craft. However... never in her life had she ever used her   
sensitivity to the Force to save someone's life.  
  
Up to now, it had always been restricted to her own survival, like her training   
about not caring about others had taught her. Today however, she had carelessly   
flung that hard-learnt lesson to the four winds and had saved the boy.  
  
Twice.  
  
She had been safe in the shelter, a few minutes later, had managed to maintain   
her shield long enough to reach the hut unscathed. Normally, she wouldn't have   
returned in the sandstorm to save the boy, would have let him find his way by   
himself... or else abandon him to his fate, but instead... she had reconstructed   
her already strained shield and had gone after him.  
  
Once again, she had saved him from certain death...  
  
But why?, she wondered uneasily as she gazed at his exhausted figure. Why had   
she willingly defied everything she had ever learnt to save this mere stranger?  
  
As if in answer to her question, the youth slowly raised his head until his eyes   
could see her despite the shadows that were permeating the place.  
  
"Thank you," he whispered in genuine gratitude. "I owe you my life."  
  
Mara could only gape at him as his words settled in her brain. He owed her his   
life... He was aware of what she had done; he understood the risks she had   
taken for him.   
  
Unbeknown to him, he had just taught her her first lesson ever about gratitude   
and selflessness.   
  
"I, huh... you're welcome," she mumbled uneasily, having never said such words   
to anybody before; she stood to her feet.  
  
However, her muscles weren't ready for such a strain; she almost crashed back   
down on the floor but managed to steady herself and catch her balance and save   
what little remained of her professional pride at the moment.   
  
Now, her private trainer seemed to remind her with a deep scowl for not doing it   
any faster, it was time to see where she was and what were the possibilities,   
Shedding her robe, she brought her hands to her utility belt and pulled out her   
pocket luma. The farmboy, who was still sitting on the rough ground, looked up   
at her, surprise written all over his handsome but sand-burnt features.  
  
"Always be ready for anything, farmboy," she told him seriously even as she   
turned the light away from his gorgeous eyes and swept the place with her luma.   
  
"I can see that you are," he commented--- then hissed slightly and brought his   
hands to his face as he felt the pain of his new burns.  
  
Normally, Mara wouldn't pay much attention to such expression, leaving him to   
care for himself, but once again, that boy was making her act in ways she had   
never even considered possible before.  
  
  
  
  
  
Luke hissed again as he brought his right hand to rest against his cheek; he   
thus felt the scorches that were marking it. Carefully, he moved his hand from   
his face to his neck... and thus discovered that it and even hands had also been   
injured.  
  
Before he could think further though, his companion was once again kneeling in   
front of him, although much closer this time. He watched her, bemused, as she   
tore a piece of her discarded robe before wetting it with a flask she had pulled   
from a pouch on her belt.   
  
"Don't move," she advised him before she gently dabbed at his cheek.  
  
He instantly understood that the flask wasn't water but a disinfecting solution.  
He bit his lower lip against a new hiss of complain.   
  
"You're lucky that the rest of you was well protected, farmboy, or else you'd be   
in worse state," she commented lightly while she dabbed some more at his painful   
chin.  
  
He opened his eyes and meant to remind her that it would be her turn afterward--  
- when he noticed that she wasn't bearing marks anywhere. Even though the light   
was dim and coming from the floor, he could see very clearly that the mysterious   
young woman hadn't been injured at all in the storm. As far as he knew though,   
she hadn't had anymore protection than he had.   
  
"How---- how can it be?" he finally stuttered around his slackened jaw--- then   
clenched his teeth again at her new touch, this time against his neck.   
  
"I was ready for anything," she answered him cryptically. "Hold still now, this   
is worse than your face."  
  
While Luke pondered her ambiguous answer, he became aware that indeed, the   
burning in his face was nothing compared to the slash-like sensations he was now   
discovering on his upper chest.   
  
  
  
  
  
"I guess we shouldn't be surprised by these marks," Mara commented as she tried   
to dampen the painful effects of her disinfectant on her companion. "You   
couldn't protect both your head and your exposed chest and neck. How do you   
feel?" she asked him gently.  
  
"To be honest," the boy answered wryly, "as if I've been trampled by a group of   
banthas."  
  
Mara smiled slightly at his figure of speech.  
  
"Had it been the case, farmboy," she reminded him, "you wouldn't be this alive   
to know how it feels."  
  
"Right," he slurred slightly then fell silent.  
  
As she continued to tend him, Mara really began to wonder what was going on with   
her. Had she been possessed or what? She could barely recognize herself at the   
moment, yet, she admitted with herself that she had never felt this at ease with   
her actions nor words.   
  
It was, she thought in growing bemusement, as if she suddenly were a new person,   
yet the same one at the same time. It was most unsettling, especially since   
everything in her mind was screaming at her to not act this way, to not risk the   
Emperor's anger, yet here she was, caring, tending and even saving the boy's   
life.  
  
And what was worse was that she didn't mind being this way. It should disgust   
her, make her feel despise toward herself, but instead, she was well aware that   
she liked this new experience and almost thanked the storm for confining her   
with the young man for the time being.  
  
Even the Emperor wouldn't scold her for staying in a shelter during a sandstorm,   
she reflected seriously, and the Jedi wouldn't go anywhere in the meantime since   
he too would undoubtedly be hit, sooner or later, by this huge storm.  
  
However, she made a note to herself to not dawdle in the least once the storm   
would be over. She would lose the boy and go on with her mission... or would   
she?  
  
The more she was spending time with him, and the more she was growing absolutely   
interested by him.  
  
The strong gaze he had given her in the speeder when she had mentioned his   
running away had totally caught her unprepared, yet it had also affected her   
feelings toward him. From this moment on, he hadn't been a mere weakling to   
spend time with; he had been someone with a strong personality, a young man who   
seemed wiser than his years.   
  
"Looks like there's nothing much left from the last scavenging expedition," the   
object of her thoughts commented as he turned his head toward their left.   
  
She gazed in the direction he was looking at... and noticed the thoroughly   
destroyed radio system along with the empty lockers of food and blankets.   
  
"We'll make do, farmboy," she reassured him, focusing her tending on the back of   
his right ear.   
  
Her obviously worried companion remained silent and locked his gaze on their   
sole, tiny opening with the outside world... and the most severe storm the   
planet had ever known.  
  
  
  
  
TBC in part 3: Soul mates  
  
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)  
If you've got questions, I'd love to answer them :) Please sign in for your   
review, or leave your mail so that I can answer you :)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Any positive stuff is welcome :) 


	3. part 3: Soul Mates

Predestined Soul Mates  
Part 3: Soul Mates  
By SJ 29-05-02/06-02  
  
  
________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. I'm only writing stories for fun.  
See my homepage for more details.  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her   
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving   
me some of your precious time, my friend :)  
__________________  
  
  
  
  
Hours after the storm had begun, it wasn't showing any sign that it was close to   
blowing itself to an end.  
  
Once the young woman was finished tending him and covering the worse welts on   
his chest, Luke watched her with interest as she scavenged the small interior of   
the hut for whichever they could use for their own survival. Then, per common   
agreement, they turned off the luma to save its light if they needed it later   
on.  
  
The hut was thus bathed in deep shadows which barely allowed them to see each   
other through the gloom of the room. When they weren't talking, or rather that   
he wasn't talking to her, the howl of the furious winds outside told them that   
they had to stay put for a while longer.  
  
And even longer.  
  
  
  
  
  
At first, Luke tried to draw Jade out of her role of keeper-of-secrets, but   
after a few attempts, he gave up; he instead took care of the conversation.   
While he didn't want to talk 'this' much, he was aware that exchanging thoughts   
with the strange young woman was making him feel less desperate about their   
more-than-uncertain fate. If he forgot the details of how they had gotten in   
the hut, he could even almost believe that he was spending time away from his   
chores and enjoying his time-off with a new friend, getting better acquainted   
with her, at least as far as 'he' was concerned.   
  
Jade hadn't talked about herself yet, but she did show much interest in him,   
something that both surprised and heartened him. Every time that she asked him   
for more details about what he was telling her, he shared them with her, feeling   
a wonderful warmth of well-being spread in his very core at the thought that   
this beautiful, mysterious young woman considered him interesting.   
  
He had never thought that he would someday generate this in anybody. In fact,   
he had grown so used to being a black moota, someone considered not important,   
that he had slowly, reluctantly resigned himself to the fact that he would   
constantly be dismissed by everyone.   
  
But he had been wrong and Jade was proving it to him. She was genuinely   
interested by his tales of chasing dragons as a teenager, of flying in Beggar's   
Canyon and trying to outdo his own best times since he always bested the   
others',... She was especially interested by his conflict with his uncle.  
  
She was, he slowly realized, like Biggs had been with him... like a friend   
although he was probably deluding himself once again, he admitted. He barely   
knew her, and her, him.  
  
Still, they were together at the moment, and she was interacting with him; he   
decided to enjoy this short reprieve in his otherwise lonely life. Thus, he   
talked about his life on Tatooine, his childhood at the farm, his few friends at   
school, his best friend leaving for the academy last season... His aunt and   
uncle...  
  
"It's not exactly as if he doesn't care," he commented softly, gazing away from   
his companion. "I've seen him worried about me often enough to know that he   
cares. But," he continued sadly, "when I'm not at risk to die..., he doesn't   
show any pity nor mercy. He also constantly complains and rebukes me for   
everything, even mistakes I don't make or attitudes I don't have."  
  
"Rebukes can be useful, but only when justified," Jade said from beside him.   
"Have you ever stood up to him?" she asked him seriously.  
  
Luke snorted slightly at her inquiry, then nodded tiredly. "All the time. If   
not for my aunt, Tusken raiders would hear our fights from miles away every   
day."  
  
"And he doesn't understand you?" she asked him again.  
  
"Owen is a man of the land," Luke sighed in acceptance, locking his gaze back on   
Jade's shadowy form. "He is content with the menial work of growing a meager   
subsistence out of those sandy flats. Of course," he added graciously, "he'd   
like to have more money and a better life if he could have them, but he won't   
make any changes to his life for this. He likes being a farmer."  
  
"But you don't," Jade observed seriously.  
  
Luke locked his eyes on hers even though he couldn't see her clearly through the   
gloom. He himself was glad for the dim light since she couldn't see how close   
he was to tears.   
  
No, he shook his head, he didn't want to be a farmer. The sky was calling to   
him, even in his sleep. More and more, he was yearning to be off the ground   
whenever he was gazing at the sky, day and night alike. The stars were pulling   
at him; his heart was screaming louder and louder with a message he couldn't   
understand... yet he could feel that sooner or later, he would have to decode it   
and do something about it. Unlike the pulls other teenagers of Anchorhead were   
sharing with him, he could feel that his pull was something more, something he   
could not deny as a youthful delusion... It was telling him about his future...   
and the only way he had to soothe it at the moment was to fly in Beggars   
Canyon... or, at the least fly the family's speeder.  
  
"I want to be a pilot," he whispered at last, his throat constricted from all   
the yearnings he had to restrain yet again. "I want to fly like my father   
did... but uncle Owen won't let me off this rock. It's frustrating!" he finally   
spat, allowing his resent to express itself out loud.  
  
"I can imagine," Jade nodded even as she drew slightly closer to him.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Even as she grew aware of what she had just done, shortening the already close   
distance with the almost estranged-yet-already-familiar farmboy, Mara admitted   
to herself that indeed, she knew how he was feeling.  
  
She too had felt frustrated to not be able to serve her master correctly until   
recently. She had felt the yearnings to deserve what he had now given her, had   
tried to rush a few steps... Her young age and inexperience had naturally   
gotten her into a few, thick jams which had, in the end, displeased her master   
before she had learnt from her failures.   
  
Oh yes, she thought once again, she knew how unsatisfied yearnings felt.   
  
"You'll be a pilot in time, farmboy, I can feel it," she comforted him warmly,   
once again ignoring her deeply ingrained training to act on instinct with the   
young man.  
  
The moment she touched his hand, he looked up at her in shock even as she   
herself became aware that he was fighting against tears, that he didn't want to   
cry in front of her yet had just hit a limit with his emotional strength.   
  
She slightly tightened her hold on his hand, a gesture he returned with more   
strength, one born of genuine gratitude. Then, for a long moment, both of them   
gazed unseeingly at each other, as if recognizing a kin for the first time in   
their lives.   
  
Well, she conceded, they 'had' been through somewhat similar experiences.   
Neither of them had known their parents, neither of them had really had friends   
before, except for the Biggs-character for Luke, and they had both spent the   
best part of their lives working and studying instead of playing and having fun   
like other youngsters did. They also both loved to fly, although the farmboy   
hadn't experienced a true flight yet.  
  
"What is it like?" he asked her in the silence.  
  
"What is what like?" she quirked an eyebrow.  
  
"Flying... Being a pilot... How does it feel? How is it to travel from place   
to place all the time?" he asked her earnestly, slightly drawing her hand closer   
to his chest.   
  
"It's...," she slightly hesitated, then allowed him to keep hold of her hand and   
even drew a little closer to him, as if drawn by his combination of sorrow and   
eagerness.   
  
Well, he 'was' positively endearing, her mind agreed with her while she began to   
answer his question.  
  
"Whenever the ship lifts off from the ground," she explained softly, "it's as if   
I'm spreading my wings, leaving problems behind to face others head on. It's   
exhilarating. Then, when the ship jumps to hyperspace, there's always this   
magical moment of transition," she added, barely able to believe her choice of   
words yet able to admit that deep down, that's how she still felt even if flying   
had become routine for her. "When the stars are not dots anymore yet not the   
blue clouds of energy of hyperspace either... At this very moment, I always   
feel as if anything is possible, as if nothing could stop me."  
  
"And the new worlds? Are they as great as they're told to be?" the farmboy   
inquired with curiosity.  
  
"From space," she began in slight teasing, "even Tatooine looks beautiful."  
  
The young man snorted at that, taking her joke at point value.  
  
"I bet," he commented sarcastically. "So they look nice from orbit, but once on   
them..."  
  
"Some planets truly are pleasant places to visit," she told him truthfully, "but   
others could be quarantined for all I care," she finished more coldly, her more   
usual self speaking up for the first time in hours.  
  
"Well, not Tatooine, I hope," the young man inquired playfully, nudging her with   
his elbow this time.  
  
His friendly banter caught her totally off-guard and sent her cool self   
scurrying away once again to let her unknown, gentler self deal with him.   
  
"Well, let's see," she awkwardly teased him back. "Banthas, Sandpeople, Jawas,   
outlaws, Hutt ringlords, smugglers, farmboys," she drawled on the last word.  
She felt him hold his breath in slight worry, decided to let him sweat a little,   
then completed her answer. "Nope, I wouldn't quarantine this place," she   
finished lightly.  
  
The young man beside audibly let out a breath he had been holding, then searched   
her out in the gloom once again.  
  
"I'm glad you feel this way, Jade," he told her honestly. "Otherwise, we   
wouldn't have met today," he commented next, his voice more serious than he   
might have meant. "It would have been a shame."  
  
His feeling-laced words hit her like a blow in the stomach thanks to their   
emotional intensity for her. He was growing attached to her, she realized, had   
just told her that he liked her...  
  
He liked her... something that was forbidden for her, and yet... she did like   
him too, she admitted to herself. In fact, she liked him 'a lot'.  
  
"I... huh, I agree," she finally managed against her best judgment.  
  
The farmboy then took hold of her hand with his two hands and held it aloft   
between them.  
  
"I know I won't see you again once we'll get out of here, Jade," he began   
seriously, earnestly, "but I want you to know that I will always remember you as   
the only other best friend I ever had in my life. You understand me even better   
than Biggs sometimes," he finished seriously.  
  
If not for the boy's hands around hers, Mara admitted that she might be have   
been shaking with growing uneasiness and discomfort.  
  
Friend.  
  
He had just said yet another forbidden word in her life. Friends were only   
hampering one's progress. They were a nuisance, deceivers. She couldn't have   
any friend... Yet even as the words of her master rang as a warning in her mind,   
so did the boy's recent admission and she knew, beyond any doubts, that she too   
would remember him as the only friend she had ever had... even if he himself   
wouldn't be allowed to remember her.   
  
"So will I, my friend," she smiled awkwardly at him.  
  
Outside, the storm continued to blow itself to a fury.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
"...I sidled the pirate's ship just long enough to blow its main reactor before   
I pushed the throttle to its maximum speed and outran the explosion," Mara   
continued, reviving the thrill of her very first mission for her master while   
mimicking her tactic with her hands; the farmboy's eyes followed her 'fighter'   
as it flew away from the 'enemy'.  
  
"Did you make it in one piece?" he asked her worriedly.  
  
"Not even a scratch," she nodded in self-satisfaction. "My task master was very   
satisfied with the results and considered me as part of his active workers after   
that."  
  
This had been less than six months ago, she reminded herself. From that day on,   
her routine had changed from endless lessons about everything one could learn in   
the universe, to continuous missions all around the said galaxy. Some had been   
more challenging than others, but she had never failed her master... after this   
mission at least.   
  
Her very first missions had been less successful; she had greatly displeased her   
master back then, thus earning herself some more difficult, unpleasant lessons   
to learn, but after those, she had matured a lot. Now, she always found her   
target and always fulfilled her master's wishes, not caring about anyone or   
anything... until today.   
  
Today, she had first had to face the fact that she couldn't pinpoint the   
presence of a Jedi on the planet, and now, she was unable to understand why she   
was still with the young farmboy, let alone why she had been telling him about   
herself for nearly an hour and a half.  
  
Sure, the youth had been genuinely interested in everything she had said, even   
if she hadn't revealed much except for her love of flying and her lonely,   
demanding childhood, which had sounded a lot like his own although in different   
circumstances; she had also talked about her private dreams to someday merely   
travel from one place to another.  
  
That revelation had shocked her, not because of her unknown nature for she had   
been keeping this thought for herself for years now, but because she had never,   
ever shared it with anybody, burying it under layers and layers of mental   
shields and blind devotion to her savior: her master. And yet, she had brought   
it out in the open with this young man; she hadn't felt even the slightest of   
hesitation to tell him about what her dream was made of, how she saw herself in   
the future... once she would be done 'working' for her master.  
  
If such a day were possible, of course, her cooler self meanly commented in the   
silence.  
  
Of course, Mara nodded inwardly even as she knew that she was daydreaming like   
the farmboy had told her he was. As far as she knew, serving the Emperor was a   
life to death 'contract'... but it was an honor to serve him, she sternly   
reminded herself. She was privileged to be where she was at the moment and   
couldn't yearn for anything else.  
  
Or could she?..  
  
As if in answer to her question, the youth broke the silence which had followed   
her last retelling.   
  
"This sounds very exciting," he told her earnestly, his envy obvious to her. "I   
think I'd give anything to find a job like yours instead of farming like my   
uncle." He then lowered his eyes slowly, as if ashamed of his thoughts. "I...   
I wish I had a guardian like yours--- not that my uncle and aunt aren't good to   
me," he hurried to add, showing very explicitly to her that he was, indeed,   
uncomfortable with his thoughts.   
  
She edged closer to him once again; his shadowed eyes locked on hers, their   
barely seeable blueness still mesmerizing her despite the gloom of the room.   
The disappointment and pain she saw in them cut right through her heart.  
  
"It's just," he continued hesitantly, obviously fighting against tears, "that I   
wouldn't be someone I don't want to be," he explained sadly, then shut his eyes   
and turned away from her to hide his tears.  
  
Acting without thinking and against everything she ever learnt, Mara gently   
brought her hand to his face and delicately made him face her once again. While   
she did so, she rose on her knees and leaned closer to him.  
  
Even as her up-to-now brooding, cooler self suddenly jumped to her 'feet' and   
warned her off from what was about to happen, a strange, unknown yet wonderful   
pull kept her from listening to her trained self.  
  
Instead, she followed the ways of the Force and momentarily freed herself from   
her imperial life.  
  
"If you had, farmboy," she whispered softly, "you wouldn't know how to love."  
  
And with that, she kissed him with all the feelings she had been trying to   
suppress since meeting him.  
  
At first, the young man was totally caught by surprise and remained unresponsive   
for a few seconds, then his brain seemed to catch up with him and he helped her   
to balance herself against him.  
  
From this moment on, both of their minds shut down and their hearts took over   
their bodies and souls.  
  
Outside, the storm seemed to howl in communion with their newly-found love...   
then slowly subsided as the occupants of the survival hut slowly gave in to much   
needed rest.  
  
  
******  
  
  
When Mara awoke, the first thing she became aware of was that she was draped   
over someone who was only clad in boxers; her head was resting on the hollow of   
the man's shoulder. She started slightly and meant to attack--- when flashes of   
what she had been doing with the farmboy came back to her.  
  
They had made love.  
  
It hadn't been a mere joining for fun, she admitted to herself, but true, deep   
love which had needed to express itself in the only way it could.  
  
Moaning slightly at what her heart had made her do, she closed her eyes and   
fervently hoped that she wouldn't regret it later on. Why hadn't she controlled   
herself? she wondered in confusion. How could this slip of a boy overcome her   
so much that she would go against everything her training had taught her?   
First, she had acknowledged him as a friend, and now... as a lover.   
  
If there was one word more prohibited in her life than "friend", it was "love".   
Her heart, she reminded herself even as she tried to conjure up images of those   
unpleasant lessons she had promised to never repeat, 'had' been conditioned to   
not feel anymore. However, what she conjured up were images of how her heart   
had taken over today.  
  
The moment that her lips had touched the farmboy's, something that reminded her   
of a well of intense love and attachment had surge from her very core and had   
invaded her body, mind, soul and spirit before leading her closer and closer to   
the captivating youth until it had been impossible to get any closer.   
  
Even if she had wanted to resist, she realized, she wouldn't have been able to;   
even worse, she 'had' wanted to follow where this had been headed.  
  
But it hadn't been her, she objected with determination, opening her eyes and   
pushing herself off the other's body. She didn't know what had happened, or how   
she could have lost it this much, but, she determined even as she found her   
clothes in the surrounding shadows and began to dress up once again, it would   
not happen again.  
  
She had a mission to fulfill; it was the only thing that mattered in her---  
  
A stirring behind her attracted her attention; she glanced backward at the male,   
mostly shadowed form behind her--- and her harsh resolved faltered once again.   
  
Now that the storm outside had mostly subsided, a ray of sunshine was peeking   
through the small opening of their makeshift barricade; the light was hitting   
the boy's face straight on, allowing her to see his handsome features very   
clearly once again.  
  
This boy was unlike any being she had ever encountered, she admitted to herself   
even as she crouched beside him to study him once again. He was someone whom   
she hadn't thought existed.   
  
How could anyone be this kind, this compassionate? After what he had told her   
about his life, she considered that he had every right to be as bitter toward   
Life as she herself had been till today... but instead, he had chosen to nurture   
his heart, to care about others and be a good person, not just a good citizen   
for the Emperor, but a good person for the others.   
  
Even without any special training or abilities... he had come to her rescue,   
and, she suspected, would have given his life for hers if need be.  
  
Charmed despite herself by his gentle nature, she hesitantly extended a hand   
toward his head and delicately brushed a lock of stray hair from his forehead.  
  
She was about to tell him, once again, how much she loved him before keeping him   
safe from the Emperor--- when he awoke and locked his eyes on her nearby   
presence.  
  
She withdrew her hand from his head as if scalded, then stood back to her feet   
and turned away from him.  
  
  
  
  
  
Luke had been drifting in bliss, savoring the gentle warmth that was soaking   
through the pores of his face when a delicate touch awakened him further.   
Perfectly aware of who it was, he opened his eyes even as he smiled gently at   
her, but before he could ask her how she felt, or simply acknowledge her   
presence, she stood up and turned her back to him.  
  
Puzzled, Luke raised himself on an elbow and watched her as she pulled her shirt   
over her scantily clad body before her trousers followed suite. By the time she   
was attaching her belt, he decided that something was definitely not right.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked her in genuine worry even as he sat up completely.  
  
Had he hurt her? Or upset her? He really hoped not, especially since he had   
merely followed her lead. She had been the one to kiss him first, to incite him   
to do more than just kiss.   
  
At first, he hadn't been able to believe his senses that it had been happening,   
then, when the illusion hadn't disappeared as it usually did, he had realized   
that it had been happening for real and had returned her affection. He himself   
would have been content to only kiss, but the young woman had quickly set things   
between themselves so that kissing hadn't been near enough and they had   
completed the circle of love. When it had happened, Luke remembered feeling as   
if he had found the one woman with whom he would spend the rest of his life...   
but seeing how things were shaping up at the moment, he was beginning to doubt   
his delusions once again.  
  
"Hey, what's wrong? Have I done something?" he asked her more openly even as he   
searched for his own clothes.   
  
The red head turned sideways toward him and glared at him, something she hadn't   
done since Bestine.   
  
"What do you think?" she asked him caustically before she turned away once again   
and found her boots.   
  
Luke, who was already done up to his trousers, stopped his search for his tunic   
and stared in disbelief at the young woman.  
  
"Oh, so now it's my fault, isn't it?" he asked her indignantly, planting his   
fists on his narrow hips.   
  
He could take responsibility of his faults, his uncle had taught him that very   
well, but he himself had also learnt to not take responsibility for what wasn't   
his fault, or not only his at any rate.  
  
"You did something to me," the red head grumbled barely audibly while she   
scooped up the survival gear she had spread around their little encampment.   
  
"So did you," he retorted while he watched her stash her blaster back in her   
wrist holster. "You were the one who kissed me, and you were the one who pushed   
it further."  
  
  
  
  
  
Mara stopped her activities at this and clenched her fists as the truth of his   
words slammed in her guts.   
  
'She' had incited him to do it with her, she was the one who had vocally   
encouraged him to share his love with her---  
  
Slamming her rational door in face of these emotional elements, she whirled   
toward him and spat: "Well you didn't have to comply!"  
  
The youth reacted the only way a heartbroken man could; he defended himself.  
  
"What?? You're going to blame our common action on my shoulders only?? You   
were there too, Jade," he reminded her. "And you were a very active part of the   
decision."  
  
For a moment, two pairs of angry/upset eyes met across the refuge.  
  
He was right, her gentler side tried to reason with her. They were both   
responsible, her more than him perhaps since she had known that it was forbidden   
to her. He couldn't have known that... and he did try to slow things down but   
she hadn't listened to him.   
  
Instead, she had pushed further until he too had lost control over his timid   
self and had reached her level of freedom in expressing what they truly felt for   
one another... after less than a day!! That was impossible, unless----  
  
Whoa, sister, her sterner self suddenly rose in her mind even as everything   
became clear to her: the Jedi. The Jedi had manipulated her to distract her...   
Forgetting everything, and everyone else, she turned her back to the farmboy   
once again and walked toward the door to get out and fast.   
  
Whatever had been done to her, it had to be the Jedi, she reasoned angrily. He   
had used the boy to distract her and lead her astray--- so there was no point in   
being angry at the youth, she conceded. He had been a pawn in the other's   
game, just as she had been...  
  
Kreth, the Emperor wouldn't be pleased, she cursed inwardly even as she used her   
fresh surge of irritation to force the solidly wedged door open. Light   
instantly spilled inside the hut, filling it with its brilliance and warmth.   
  
"Where are you going?" her companion inquired as he came up behind her.   
  
She barely spared a glance backward at him; he had also finished to dress up.   
  
"Away," was her short answer before she stalked through the opening.  
  
  
  
  
TBC in part 4: Separation  
  
  
  
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)  
  
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the   
Sarlacc's throat without even being read.) 


	4. part 4: Separation

Predestined Soul Mates  
Part 4: Separation  
By SJ 29-05-02/06-02  
  
  
________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Even more so when related to events of the movies of course   
;) I'm only writing stories for fun.  
See my homepage for more details.  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her   
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving   
me some of your precious time, my friend :)  
__________________  
  
  
  
Luke watched the young woman as she literally stomped outside; there, she   
paused, obviously taking her bearings, then headed toward their left.   
  
He had done something, he berated himself sadly. He didn't know exactly what he   
had done, but whatever he and Jade had been enjoying before making love had now   
disappeared like so much smoke.   
  
She was exactly like when he had met her earlier in the morning...   
  
Feeling a heavy pang of regret settle in his heart, one even heavier than his   
regret about his life if it were possible, he also walked outside... and turned   
toward the slowly setting suns; he sighed forlornly as he gazed at the familiar,   
soothing yet sorrowful sight.   
  
Throughout a single day, he had found someone who could understand him... who   
could like him, even love him... and had lost her because of some stupid   
mistake, or comment, or perhaps just a look he had given her... He really was a   
foolish boy, he berated himself even as he angrily brushed his tears away----  
  
No, he suddenly, illogically determined. He would not let it end like this, not   
after what they had shared during the day. Something was bothering the young   
woman and he wouldn't let her leave until they had figured it out.  
  
Gathering his resolve, he turned toward the direction she had taken and called   
out: "Jade, wait up!"  
  
The young woman had barely spared a glance back toward him when he spotted the   
shape of moving sand dunes right behind her. His seriousness instantly became   
worry and fear.  
  
"Behind you, look out!" he shouted even as he pointed at the emerging Tusken   
Raider.  
  
Even as the young woman turned away from him to face the new danger, he himself   
ran as fast as he could toward her to help her once again.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Atop the dune of sand, where she had spotted what looked like the buried form of   
the landspeeder, Mara restrained a sigh of annoyance as she heard the farmboy   
call to her--- when a warning suddenly came to her through the Force, right on   
the heels of the youth's verbal one.  
  
Her right hand instantly clutched her left forearm and pulled her blaster free,   
speeding up the procedure with the help of a Force-tug. She then turned toward   
the nearby presence of danger, her blaster already aimed for trouble; the   
emerging Tusken Raider never knew what hit him before he fell back in the sand,   
forever this time.  
  
As if taking this as their cue, several Sandpeople suddenly revealed their   
presence all around her and attacked her with their axes and gaffi sticks. Mara   
ducked under a first swing, then almost simultaneously kicked out sideways,   
taking care of a second attacker this way. She then fired two quick shots into   
the second, closest enemy even as she raised her free hand and blocked a stick   
that would have brained her for good. She shot that other raider while she   
straightened up, then finished the remaining two by diving away from their   
mutual, enraged attacks.   
  
The aliens finished themselves for her. Meanwhile, compensating with her   
strength for the yielding sand, she completed her roll and pushed herself back   
to her feet, landing in a crouch.  
  
She thus ended up facing another fight and discovered that the farmboy had once   
again come to her rescue, then had tackled one of her attackers even though he   
was still as unarmed as ever. His struggle had led him some five meters away   
from her own position; he wasn't aware of her presence.  
  
As she watched him fight for his life against the raider who seemed intent to   
take off his head, Mara quickly debated what was the best course of action in   
this situation. Considering what had happened between them, she already knew   
that she would face the consequences for doing something forbidden. What she   
didn't know though was if her master would also seek out the boy to punish him   
for leading her astray, although unwillingly, or if he would be safe with a mere   
memory wipe?   
  
Perhaps leaving him to his fate would be the safest option, she began to think   
as she slowly straightened from her crouch. If he were strong, he would   
survive, and if he weren't... then she conceded that he would probably be better   
off dead.  
  
She had begun to agree with herself--- when the boy suddenly yelped loudly; once   
again forgetting her training and conditioning, Mara whirled around and shot the   
Raider who had hurt her lover before running as fast as she could toward him.   
Once beside him, she made sure that she hadn't intervened too late.   
  
A moan of half-aware complaint informed her that he was mostly all right; a   
light scan through the Force confirmed it for her. She still tore a piece of   
her shirt to dab at the cut on his forehead.   
  
"Hey, farmboy," she tried to rouse him, "it's too early for a nap."  
  
Slowly, the youth stirred with more strength and opened his eyes.   
  
"Are you okay?" he asked her softly, raising his hand to touch her nearby   
features.  
  
Mara closed her eyes at his gentle touch, pained by what she knew she had to do   
now. He was safe... she had to leave him behind.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The first image which came to Luke when he recovered his senses was the brief   
image of Jade killing his own assailant. The way she had moved, the way she had   
aimed... He knew that he would never forget how 'hot and dangerous' she truly   
was. If it were possible, it attracted him more to her than what they had   
already shared during the sandstorm.   
  
Her voice then cut in his muzzled thoughts and he forced his eyes open. The   
first thought that crossed his mind at that moment was that he had finally found   
which color were her hair.  
  
They were the color of Tatooine's second sunset, just before it disappeared   
under the horizon. Just a little less red in her hair and he would loose her   
against the sun that he could now see behind her.   
  
"Are you okay?" he inquired tiredly even as he brought his hand to her beautiful   
features.   
  
He had been so worried for her when the Tuskens had popped out of the sand; he   
hadn't been able to abandon her, no matter the danger for himself. As it was,   
he had discovered just what she had meant by 'being ready for anything'... and   
had in the end saved him, not the opposite.  
  
When he had become aware of her watching his fight from a distance, he had   
feared, for real, that she had decided to abandon him to his fate; however, she   
had once again proven him wrong.  
  
Now, he knew that whoever she was, whatever happened next, he would always be   
able to trust her.   
  
The young woman, who had closed her eyes and gripped his hand when he had   
touched her, slowly gazed at him once again.  
  
He gaped as he saw that her eyes were filled with tears.  
  
"Hey," he tried to comfort her, forcing himself to a sitting position--- and   
practically falling back on his back when his head felt as if it were about to   
explode.   
  
He tried again, this time from his laying position.  
  
"I'm okay, Jade," he comforted her. "thanks to you," he added gratefully.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Mara closed her eyes once again and withdrew from his touch..., from his   
burning-right-through-to-her-soul, physical presence that seemed determined to   
worm its way into her heart. Now it was her turn to turn away from him and hide   
her tears.   
  
If only there weren't the Emperor, she dimly wished before she crushed that   
unfaithful thought and willingly erased it from her memory.  
  
Meanwhile, the boy had tried again to sit up, more slowly this time; he gently   
took hold of her hand and squeezed it warmly.  
  
"I'm sorry too for what happened today, Jade," he apologized earnestly. "I   
don't know what got into me," he added as if in afterthought. "I should have   
known better than to let us go this far this quickly."  
  
Mara opened her eyes as she understood what he was trying to tell her; he too   
had been overwhelmed by her today. Neither he, nor herself, had been completely   
their true selves, yet... they had, but it had been someone they had never known   
they could be before.   
  
Turning her head forward once again, she sadly locked her gaze with his gentle   
one.  
  
She had to do it now, her normally harsh self told her seriously. It was the   
end of the escapade; it was time to get back to work.  
  
"I wish I had met you under other circumstances, my dear farmboy," she whispered   
desperately, then pulled him into a last kiss... while she changed the setting   
of her weapon. She stunned him on the strongest setting she could pull from her   
pocket blaster; she had no choice to keep him unconscious for as long as she   
needed to bring him back to his home.  
  
The youth naturally moaned against her lips in reflexive complaint just as he   
became inert in her arms; she continued to kiss him for a few more seconds, then   
merely held his unconscious body, silently asking him to forgive her for this   
betrayal.  
  
Eventually, she set him back on the sand, rested her two hands on his head, took   
a deep breath to focus and gather all her Force abilities to herself. Then, she   
meticulously removed all the memories she had given him today before crushing   
them forever while being extremely careful to not pull anything else from his   
mind and learn anything about his identity. She wanted to protect him from even   
herself.  
  
Their love, she resigned herself once she was finished with the procedure, would   
always be nameless and would only live in her memories... her heart, which she   
would also silence from now on to protect him.  
  
Wiping her tears of regret and sorrow from her eyes, she pulled her homing   
beacon from her pocket and called her ship to her current location, then settled   
in to wait, hugging the still unaware young man in her arms.   
  
One last time.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
Her steadfast ship reached her position less than ten minutes later. She first   
carried the boy to it and settle him in the entrance of the hatch before she   
herself took the control in the cockpit. She then used her tractor beams to   
free the farmboy's speeder from its sandy prison.   
  
Next, she used a twinge of the Force to flip the craft and empty it from the   
sand it had collected, then entered the coordinates of the boy's household,   
which he had revealed to her when talking about perhaps seeing her again.   
  
  
  
  
  
Fifty meters away from her target, she turned on the furtive mode of her ship so   
as to not alarm her farmboy's family of his peculiar arrival. Once there, she   
freed the speeder from the tractor beam and rejoined the still unconscious boy   
near the hatch. The light wind of the cool night was gently ruffling his unruly   
hair, giving him as innocent a look as he could ever have.  
  
Fighting past her own pangs of regret, she pulled him out of the ship and laid   
him in his speeder, making it look as if he had fallen asleep in it. Then, she   
pushed the turned off vessel into the nearby garage and arranged things to make   
him believe that he had spent his day tinkering on his speeder after returning   
from his shopping excursion.   
  
A few minutes later, it was time to leave... but she couldn't. Her eyes sought   
his handsome features once again, as if making a print of them forever; she   
leaned over the side of the speeder and kissed him one last time, a gentle,   
delicate, goodbye kiss she had never thought she would ever give to anybody.  
  
"Perhaps some day, farmboy," she whispered forlornly, then forced her feet to   
turn away from him and lead her back to her normal life.  
  
Behind her, the unbeknown young Jedi unconsciously whispered: "I will be   
waiting, my love." then lapsed into deeper sleep as the Force, unrestricted by   
any conscious thoughts from the youth, flowed in and through him to salvage what   
his lover had tried to erase from her soulmate's mind.  
  
In time, they would find each other.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
  
Two weeks later, Mara Jade was back on Coruscant, back where she belonged and   
where she was comfortable.   
  
After scouring Tatooine for another three days, carefully avoiding any contact   
with anybody during those days, she had reported to her master that the Jedi had   
probably left the planet.   
  
After leading a few meditation sessions, the Emperor had finally pulled her off   
this assignment and ordered her back on Coruscant to further her Force training.  
  
As she stood on the roof of the Imperial palace to practice her sensing skills   
on the buildings that were surrounding her, she dimly thanked whoever was   
watching over her for saving her from her master's wrath this time.  
  
The Emperor had never felt anything wrong about her mission on Tatooine. He   
hadn't even mentioned the possibility that she might have been in touch with   
someone during her time on the planet. True, she conceded as she pulled herself   
from this willingly forbidden path of thoughts, ever since she had left the boy,   
she had devoted her time to not pay anymore attention to her heart.  
  
In fact, she had taught herself to never let it interfere with her life ever   
again... had literally forced it down, down, down, in the deepest, least   
important levels of her personality.  
  
She didn't care anymore about anyone nor anybody; she was once again Mara Jade,   
Emperor's Hand and devoted servant to her master, and to her master alone.   
  
Taking a deep breath to shoo away new, shy thoughts about a certain farmboy, she   
focused her mind once again on her current task and resumed her sensing   
exercises.  
  
Soon, as soon as he would locate the Jedi again, her master would send her after   
him once again.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
  
Months later, on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker moaned slightly in his sleep as the   
new-yet-already familiar dream of a mysterious red-head girl invaded his mind.   
As usual, he saw himself save her, then they outran a sandstorm, talked... and   
fell in love, but it was an impossible love.  
  
As the young, unrecognizable young woman sadly told him that someday, perhaps   
they would be together, he himself whispered, both in his dreams and out loud:   
"I will be waiting, my love."  
  
  
  
  
  
******  
******  
******  
  
  
  
  
Approximately six years later, aboard the Second Death Star:  
  
When the Emperor renewed his attack of lightning bolts on him, Luke Skywalker   
knew that it was the end; his body was so permeated with pain that he could   
barely breathe anymore, and he didn't have any psychological nor spiritual   
strength left.  
  
The last of his mental barriers collapsed with that thought, allowing him to see   
his whole life in a flash before he prepared himself for death, holding on a   
last memory... his last link to life: his strange dreams about the red-head   
young woman he could love so much... and for the first time ever, he was able to   
distinguish her beautiful features in his mind's eye.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Emperor Palpatine couldn't understand why the Jedi was still alive after the   
dose of dark side energies he had already received; the boy, he raged, would die   
even more for this last defiance; he blasted him faster, stronger, more   
relentlessly, with still no result... until he felt the boy's mind crumple,   
succumb to his now unavoidable fate.   
  
Delighted by this first and final victory over the last of the Jedi, the dark   
Jedi reached out and invaded the now totally open mind of the unaware Jedi----   
and stopped short on what he encountered: the boy had met with his now assigned   
assassin... and the girl had fallen in love with the naive, then Force-shielded   
foul--- who had been, in fact, her target in this mission. Angered beyond   
belief at this discovery, he lashed out completely at the youth, baring his   
teeth in sheer rage and hatred.  
  
The little harlot had betrayed him, had lied to him!  
  
At his feet, the young Jedi writhed in throes of final agony as he himself   
vented his anger and fury on him... yet the boy still refused to die. Upon   
seeing this, the Emperor decided that if he didn't die yet, he would use the   
extra time to cause him much more torment; he would not let the boy die with   
such 'beautiful' memories. He viciously blocked the Jedi's memories from his   
conscious self, thus taking revenge on his soul, then concentrated once again on   
finishing him completely.   
  
He ignored the desperate call for help of a foolish boy to a dead father -----   
but suddenly found himself bodily lifted off the floor and carried at arms' end.  
  
Vader!, he instantly realized. He had been so focused on the enraging youth   
that he had totally forgotten to monitor his other servant. He had thought that   
he truly had him under his control, but he had obviously underestimated the   
turning potency of emotional elements such as killing Vader's boy in his   
presence.   
  
*Curse you, Skywalker!* he spat viciously even as he tried to direct his   
lightning bolts at the giant to kill him.   
  
Vader faltered slightly under the assault but didn't drop him. The traitor   
would pay for this, he raged while he tried to free himself from his grip; the   
giant's grip was inescapable. Belatedly, he understood that he meant to throw   
him down the nearby shaft where he himself had meant to send the boy to his   
doom; his fury became unfathomable.  
  
Even as he cursed and gathered his essence for his coming 'death', thus no   
longer controlling his lightning bolts, he reached out once again, this time for   
another servant who had betrayed his trust: Mara Jade.  
  
While he continued to make sure that Vader/Skywalker wouldn't survive long after   
his own 'death', he established a contact with Jade, viciously blocked her own   
memories of the boy, for lack of time to erase them, and gave her a last-ditch   
mission. Accompanying the sending with a false vision of both Skywalkers   
killing him, he ordered her to kill Luke Skywalker---- then he didn't have time   
for more manipulations or preparations.  
  
He died in a most unpleasant manner... gathered his energies and willed them   
into a waiting body which bore his Force resonance, on Byss.  
  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
  
When Palpatine awoke, his first thought was that the transition had been   
successful once again and no one would suspect that he was still alive since his   
first action upon awakening had been to shield his Force-presence.   
  
He stepped out of the cloning vat, covered himself with the robes that the   
attendant gave him, then asked for a report about the battle of Endor.   
  
To his dangerous displeasure, he discovered that his transition hadn't happened   
almost instantaneously as usual; instead, due to his different manipulations   
just before dying, it had taken nearly two months to happen, two months during   
which the Rebellion had routed his Empire into a stinging defeat; two months   
during which his once perfectly controlled domain was now lost to the chaos of   
internal war and factions while the Rebels were pushing their advantage against   
them and capturing more star destroyers.  
  
At first, he seethed and almost destroyed everyone around him as he understood   
that what he had so craftily built through deceit and manipulations was now lost   
to him.   
  
Eventually however, a week or so later, he recovered his more calculating mood   
and resumed plotting to reclaim what had once been his.  
  
As he read the reports about the situation in his galaxy, he understood that   
keeping his existence secret would work to his advantage for the moment. Since   
he hadn't signaled it in any way yet, either physically or through the Force, no   
one knew that he had returned, not even young Skywalker who had, after all,   
survived his final attack; Jade, who was also still alive, couldn't suspect it   
either.  
  
As he read the reports about his true enemy, he discovered that the youth was   
now the 'only' Jedi alive in the universe yet still hadn't completed his   
training. Considering how lost the young man had to feel, he decided that it   
was a nice beginning for his revenge. The boy was alone, had lost his father   
after barely saving him, and young Palpatine smiled maliciously as he gazed   
coldly at what would be his new domain for the time being, the foolish boy   
didn't suspect that he would soon be killed by the very woman he had ever truly   
loved.   
  
Now there would be an interesting entertainment until he could get back to   
serious business, he cackled lowly to himself: watching his wayward but best   
assassin kill the man she had meant to hide from him, her rightful master. It   
would be a wonderful revenge, he sighed in bliss: Jade would learn to never   
betray him again, Skywalker, the father, would also be punished by witnessing   
the death of his son, and the boy would, naturally, pay with his life and love   
for all the trouble he had brought down on 'his' up-to-now perfect world.   
  
Sitting back in his throne, young Palpatine settled in to wait and watch his   
revenge unfold before him while he prepared his return to the galaxy, a return   
for which he planned to be stronger than ever.  
  
  
******  
  
  
Meanwhile, unbeknown to the self-blinded Emperor or even the two, young Jedi   
soul-mates, the Force shaped events around them so that the two of them never   
met until they could be on equal ground once again. Just as it had guided Jedi   
Kenobi into strongly shielding the Force presence of both Skywalker children to   
protect them from Force detection until the time was right for them to be   
revealed, it continued to guide and protect the young Jedi until it could bring   
him to his pre-destined, currently 'blinded' soulmate, to a place in time and   
space where they would both survive this new encounter.  
  
Thus, five years after the battle of Endor, it led them both to Myrkr where its   
own field of energy, Light and Dark alike, was blocked away... leaving the two   
soul-mates to their own devices as well as the power of their timeless and   
unbreakable bond of unfathomable, pre-destined love.  
  
  
  
The end? Of course not :)   
TBC in At Point Blank Range (or the missing moments, and thoughts, of Heir to   
the Empire (with all the due disclaimers of course; it's only for fun)  
  
  
  
  
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)  
  
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the   
Sarlacc's throat without even being read.) 


	5. At Point Blank Range: Second Encounter

At point blank range  
By SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
02-02-02/06-02  
  
________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of Heir to the   
Empire belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing to make more sense with   
Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel,   
this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related   
to the situations of Heir to the Empire also belong to Timothy Zhan. Please   
don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.  
See my homepage for more details.  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her   
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving me some of   
your precious time, my friend :)  
__________________  
  
  
Place in time:   
Eleven years after the first meeting of Pre-destined Soulmates.   
  
In 'Heir to the Empire', right after Luke feels Mara's presence aboard the Wild   
Karrde.  
  
******  
  
  
The moment that Mara Jade felt the Jedi's senses probe her presence, she blocked   
her mind from his while allowing him to feel that she would be his death. As   
she had expected, the proud Jedi was so shocked by her hatred of him that he   
mentally scurried away, like the coward he truly was.   
  
'And right now,' she thought meanly as she continued to monitor both the crew at   
the helm and the events that were unfolding a few twenty meters away from her,   
they would see how 'vulnerable' he also was.   
  
When the Ysalamiri effect blocked her probe off from Karrde's section of the   
ship, she abandoned her station and stalked toward her employer's office.  
  
Skywalker was finally within her grasp and helpless; she barely kept herself   
from smirking in grim delight.  
  
At last, here was her chance to both kill the Jedi and avenge the Emperor. For   
the past five years, she had been looking for opportunities to fulfill her dead   
master's last wish, but events had unfortunately kept pushing her further and   
further away from her target.  
  
Until now.  
  
At this very moment, Luke Skywalker, would-be hero and Jedi impostor, was within   
her reach, and this time, she also had all the means she needed to accomplish   
her last mission.   
  
A clean blaster shot in the head would do, she thought with a mean sneer of   
hatred--- then changed her mind.  
  
It would be too fast.  
  
She wanted it to last, she admitted to herself. She wanted him to suffer for   
everything he was responsible for: the death of countless Imperial soldiers, the   
destruction of her master and her sole purpose in life... the misery she herself   
had put up with for the past five years. But not anymore, she thought angrily,   
her hand literally itching for a knife, a blaster, or even the Jedi's   
lightsaber.  
  
Now there would be an appropriate tool of revenge, she smirked meanly as she   
reached her destination.  
  
She was about to key the door of Karrde's office open--- when two men came out,   
pushing a deactivated droid in front of themselves.   
  
So, she thought in disdain, Skywalker truly kept the robot around. Probably to   
keep record of all his 'great' deeds, she sneered in disgust.  
  
Once the entrance was cleared again, she stepped inside--- and froze in   
unprecedented joy/hatred as her eyes rested on the slumped figure of the orange-  
clad Jedi. Up to now, she had had a very slight doubt about the true identity   
of their passenger. The Force contact had pretty much convinced her of the   
truth, but she had been around long enough to know not to trust anything but her   
eyes.  
  
And her eyes were now glaring hatefully at the one man responsible for the   
murder of her master... the destruction of her old life. Answering her   
assassin instinct, she pulled her pocket blaster from her wrist holster and   
aimed at the unconscious figure---  
  
"We didn't capture him to kill him," Karrde's well modulated voice calmly   
reminded her from her right.  
  
She looked up at him, a thousand thoughts running through her mind while no   
sound came out of her mouth. She had to kill him, she wanted to tell him, it   
was her duty, her responsibility... her right!  
  
"Yet," Karrde added briefly after a while, as if to reassure her that he   
wouldn't free Skywalker either.  
  
She herself refocused on their prisoner.   
  
'By the Gods, it would be so easy to pull the trigger and be done with it,' she   
thought angrily. All she had to do was move her finger slightly backward and   
her nightmare would be over... but she couldn't do it, she tempered herself.   
Karrde had an idea as to how to use the Jedi, and if she disobeyed him, even to   
obey the Emperor, he would kick her out of his organization.   
  
She had finally gotten herself an important position, a meaningful job. She   
wouldn't risk it for anyone, she decided angrily, not even Skywalker. She   
swiftly flicked her weapon's setting from kill to stun and satisfied herself   
with an empty shot.  
  
"He was awakening," she shrugged coolly to her approaching boss.  
  
"Combined with the double dose of pandrophine we just gave him, he won't be   
awakening any time soon," her boss commented seriously, then continued: "It will   
give us some time."  
  
"For what?" she frowned at him.  
  
"For one thing," Karrde commented, locking his gaze with hers, "to figure out   
How you knew that he would be there?"  
  
"Feminine instinct," she retorted evasively, turning back toward their   
unconscious prisoner to study him.  
  
Even though she had known what to expect thanks to her excellent tracking of any   
type of information related to the Jedi, she admitted to herself that he seemed   
more square-shouldered than she had been led to believe via the media. She made   
a note to herself to be wary of his strength.  
  
Meanwhile, Karrde continued his inquiry.  
  
"And I suppose that this instinct told you that it would be better to capture   
him than to leave him where he was?" he asked with just a note of rebuttal in   
his voice.  
  
"Yes, it did," she nodded, crouching closer to the fallen man, then searched for   
the catch of his weapons' belt.   
  
Even though she could feel that he was out for the duration, she knew better   
than to leave an enemy armed.  
  
"Then," her boss went on, definitely serious this time, "you can also tell me   
what we will do with him. We are a neutral smuggling group, Mara. I 'had'   
declined the Imperials' offer to go after him."  
  
"No one knows that we have him," she reminded him coldly even as she pulled   
sharply on the Jedi's belt, freeing it from his dead weight.  
  
His slumped body rolled backward in response to her tug, his shoulder shifting   
out of the way, thus allowing her to see his unconscious features.   
  
He hadn't changed much since Jabba's Palace, she instantly thought, then   
reflexively lashed out at him as she remembered that awful failure.   
  
The unconscious man didn't react in any way to her attack, but someone else   
intervened; Karrde swiftly interposed himself between their prisoner and   
herself, then took a strong hold on her still armed hand.  
  
"Don't assault him again," he warned her, reminding her that 'he' was in charge   
this time, not her. "Until we decide what to do with him, we will not harm him   
in any way, understood?"  
  
"Why do you care, Karrde?" she instantly challenged him, barely managing to   
restrain herself from shoving him aside to finish her target. "We won't return   
him to his friends and you know it," she reminded him sternly.  
  
"Perhaps," the older man countered, not letting go of her wrist, "but until I   
have made 'my' decision, you will not attack Skywalker again," he repeated,   
dead-serious.  
  
Horribly torn between her allegiance to her dead master and her hopes for the   
new life which she was slowly making for herself, Mara remained silent, her   
glare shifting from the Jedi to her boss, then back again--- until she finally   
relented. She freed herself from Karrde's grip and stuffed her blaster back in   
her wrist holster.  
  
"Point taken," she answered coolly although she was simmering inside.  
  
Skywalker was hers; nobody but her would decide what to do with him... but not   
with Karrde around.  
  
"Good, then you will be responsible to keep his presence secret as well as keep   
him out of trouble."  
  
Mara felt her teeth grind together upon hearing those news, but other than   
flashing a very cold glare at her boss, she didn't react in any other, visible   
way.  
  
Great, she growled inwardly, not only would she be unable to kill him, but she   
would babysit him as well. Life was unfair, she thought hatefully, her glare   
once again fastened on the unconscious, unaware Jedi. One more thing he would   
have to pay for, she then added on her mental notepad of grievances against   
Skywalker.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
A day later, Mara sat in a small room on Myrkr where their main base was   
located. In front of her, still laying on his back on the pallet where they had   
left him, Skywalker finally began to stir awake.  
  
One whole day, she silently cursed him as he barely shifted his neck; she was   
feeling irritated enough with him to take a few potshots at him in the legs or   
an arm. It wouldn't kill him, she thought meanly, but it would begin to make up   
for her waste of time. She had better things to do with her time than to   
babysit a sleeping Jedi.   
  
For one thing, she thought more coldly, she could kill him.  
  
But no, Karrde had explicitly forbidden her to even touch the Jedi, and since he   
was still in la-la-land, she didn't even have the satisfaction of verbally   
taking it out on him. He wasn't aware of her presence. But not for long, she   
smirked meanly as she saw him blink against the streaming light. He finally   
lifted his head.  
  
"Finally awake, are you?" she sneered at him.  
  
Had she not hated him as much as she did, she would have smirked at his almost-  
comical start upon hearing her voice; however, she felt nothing but disgust for   
him. The all powerful Jedi wasn't so powerful anymore, she thought in   
satisfaction as she warily studied him, and himself, her.  
  
Were she in his place, she then suddenly estimated, she would try to jump him   
right about now---.  
  
However, the Jedi didn't seem to be aware of that; instead, he frowned at her   
even as his mouth hung loosely thanks to his obvious shock. She could imagine   
how he felt; she too had felt lost when she had set foot for the first time on   
Myrkr, but in her case, she had gotten over it. Unlike the Jedi, she didn't   
rely on the Force anymore than she had to. Skywalker however, was said to live   
for it...  
  
It had to be a sweet torture for him, she thought cynically, then, unable to   
resist taunting him, spoke up once again: "That's right," she smiled meanly at   
him, "welcome back to the world of mere mortals."  
  
His eyes widened even more than they already were; she reflexively stared   
straight in them--- and something happened.  
  
Even as the Jedi obviously became aware of his exact predicament, she found   
herself becoming more than aware of his very close, strong presence... and even   
thought that he was handsom---- whoa, Jade, she instantly caught herself. What   
was that??? She hurried to throw her last, disgusting thoughts in her garbage   
masher, then mentally shook herself and forced herself to refocus on her   
prisoner.  
  
Insults, she reflected, that would keep her focused on her hatred.  
  
She expressed it by giving him one more vocal proof that he had lost everything   
that made him special; as she hissed lowly at him, memories of what she herself   
had lost came back to her.  
  
She too had been special, she remembered it quite vividly; in fact, she had   
been unique---- and he had taken everything away from her, she thought   
hatefully, her hand dropping to her lap as the urge to kill him grew strong once   
again, but she once again stopped herself as she became aware of the actual   
circumstances.   
  
She couldn't let him take her future from her. The past had been enough. She   
warily watched him as he finally swung his legs over the side of the bed, then   
straightened to a sitting position--- and his right hand moved toward her! She   
recognized his intent even as she tightened her grip on her blaster and told him   
how useless trying to impress her with Force-tricks was at the moment. The Jedi   
countered her retort with something about getting back to his feet.  
  
He might not be able to use the Force, she reflected grimly as she continued to   
watch him catch his breath, but she had a fairly good idea that his strength   
'would' represent a challenge if they fought physically. In such cases, she   
believed in dissuasion, and in this particular case, convincing him to behave   
would also keep her from finding an 'excuse' to kill Skywalker and ruin it with   
Karrde.   
  
She had had to run from so many places in the last five years that she had lost   
count of them, but Karrde's organization was different, she admitted to herself.   
They were based on a planet bereft from the Force... and she could really use   
her piloting and commanding abilities with the group. She wasn't a menial   
waitress anymore, nor a less than important mechanic. Here, she was a second in   
command and she wasn't stranded anymore.  
  
"Don't tell me; let me guess. You're Mara Jade," The Jedi tried again--- trying   
to look helpless, she noticed with disgust.  
  
She sneered at his feeble act. Skywalker didn't seem to catch her despise in   
her voice. Instead, he thanked her about his x-wing. She almost choked on his   
words.   
  
Was he trying to befriend her now? Just like he had 'befriended' the whole   
galaxy for his own purposes of rising to power? His lack of morality sickened   
her.  
  
"Save your gratitude," she spat vehemently at him before telling him exactly   
where things stood for him as far as she was concerned: give him to the   
imperials or kill them themselves.  
  
Skywalker's blue eyes found hers again at that... and for the second time in   
less than five minutes, she felt an almost unbearable attraction for her sworn   
enemy.  
  
He was doing something to her, she instantly warned herself even as she hardened   
her glare to dissuade him from gazing at her.. A few seconds later, she jumped   
to her feet, her blaster aimed at Skywalker's head.  
  
"On your feet," she ordered sharply.  
  
She watched him with unconcealed hatred as he slowly pushed himself to his feet;   
she thus caught his reaction when he saw his lightsaber at her hip.  
  
'That's right,' she thought at him in grim satisfaction, briefly wishing to have   
the Force back to send those thoughts to him and watch him crumple in fear.   
'I'm not a push-over and I can defeat you anytime I want. I too can use the   
Force, and more.' Currently however, her prisoner didn't catch any of her   
untold messages.  
  
Once he had straightened up, the Jedi spoke again, his voice still devoid of any   
anger or hatred.  
  
So he didn't want to wait and find out what they had in store for him?, she   
thought in dark amusement even as she became aware that now might be the moment   
that she had been waiting for to kill him.  
  
"There's one other one," she answered his comment about his options, locking her   
gaze with his even as she stepped closer--- and aimed straight at his face at   
point blank range. "You try to escape... and I kill you right here and now,"   
she offered him icily, hatefully.  
  
She expected Skywalker to be afraid, or angry, or anything. Instead, he   
remained still, his defiant gaze never leaving hers--- and for the first time   
since she had been given her mission at Jabba's, she recognized strength in her   
enemy. She understood that he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing him   
begging for his life, nor would he give her the opportunity to torment him just   
like he had tormented her and her master. He shouldn't be like that, she   
silently cursed this unexpected trait of personality in him; he had no right to   
not pay for his crimes, and only a long and mentally torturous end would balance   
for those.   
  
In front of her, Skywalker remained still, not giving her even a mobile for   
pulling the trigger. Those eyes of his, she decided in dim unease, were more   
impressive in person.   
  
Finally, she admitted defeat in her newest plan to take his life. Again.   
Eventually however, she knew that she would be successful. It was her duty, her   
right.  
  
"Move," she flicked her weapon toward the door.  
  
Silently, the Jedi complied; she walked behind him, keeping her weapon trained   
on him.  
  
And it was set on kill.  
  
  
******  
  
  
As they crossed the wide courtyard, Mara almost willed him to try and make a   
dash for his freedom so that she could shoot him where it really hurt, but the   
Jedi seemed to be aware of her desire.  
  
He didn't try anything.  
  
The closer they walked to the main building, and the more she took her focus off   
the back of his head to instead study his back... It was a wrong move; she   
unwillingly found her gaze locked on the expanse of his orange-and-white-covered   
shoulders--- and gaped slightly in surprise.   
  
He couldn't be that muscled, could he?. She shifted her focus toward his arms   
and noticed how the suit wasn't hanging loosely around his arms either. This   
had to be a trick from the dimmer light of the day, she decided in disbelief.   
No one but professional athletes were that muscled, and she doubted that the   
Jedi indulged in such 'lowly' activity. In fact, she had no doubts that he   
normally relied only on the Force, as had several of his predecessors. Or else,   
she reflected coldly, it was just another Force trick... like his eyes.   
Something she had never heard of, but that worked even without the Force.  
  
Well, she decided as she reached past his shoulder to key the main building   
open, his tricks wouldn't work on her. She instructed him to walk straight   
ahead.  
  
Skywalker fell back in step, remaining as silent as ever.  
  
They finally reached Karrde's receiving room. There, Skywalker spent a good ten   
seconds gaping at the huge tree before Karrde finally steered him forward once   
again; she herself remained ready for trouble but didn't do anything. However,   
she caught sight of the bewildered expression on Skywalker's face and found   
herself resuming her new and absolutely illogical fight with herself.  
  
For a brief, unthinkable moment, she had wanted nothing more than to press her   
lips to his sensuous-looking ones. Inconceivable, and more than sickening, she   
growled inwardly as she followed her prisoner inside. Vornsks would fly before   
she ever even touched Skywalker in any other fashion but an aggressive one, she   
promised herself.  
  
Karrde began to talk. When the Jedi commented that he might have cooperated   
with them, she couldn't help but snort slightly in derision. Did the all   
powerful/powerless Jedi think that they were stupid? Who would willingly go   
with a group of smugglers who wanted to kill him?, she wanted to challenge him.   
  
Karrde voiced her own thoughts, although in a much more sociable manner than she   
would have, then he invited their prisoner to sit down with him. The moment   
Skywalker took a step closer to her boss, something strange happened.   
  
Karrde's pet vornsks jumped to their feet and seemed ready to pounce on the   
Jedi. Normally, she reminded herself even as her eyes remained locked on the   
predators, they were very quiet, even friendly, but not with the Jedi. As if   
they knew what kind of scum he was, she then understood grimly while a new urge   
to kill him for his crimes grew in her. Once again, she didn't give into it.  
  
In time, she scolded herself.  
  
While she kept herself from making a mistake, one of their crew men took the two   
beasts away from their group, then Skywalker sat down. She herself holstered   
her weapon and stood beside her boss, her eyes never leaving the wily Jedi.  
  
She had studied him for the past five years, had learnt all his favorite tactics   
and strategies which he used against his so-called enemies. She was ready for   
him, she thought as she tried to detect any sign that he would attempt anything.  
  
However, just like in the barracks, the Jedi remained calm, quiet... even   
confident. He and Karrde proceeded to discuss which options they might have   
with him; she felt her insides churn when they mentioned the possibility that   
the Jedi might be returning to his friends. Giving him to the Imperials was not   
her favorite option either because it meant leaving him alive... In short, she   
decided, completely freeing him was unthinkable.  
  
If he ever struck that agreement with Karrde, she promised herself that the Jedi   
wouldn't survive his flight off the planet. After all, she thought   
sadistically, technical problems happened all the time aboard ships. It would   
only be an 'unfortunate' accident.  
  
She refrained herself from smirking too obviously as the image of that plan   
formed in her mind, then she forced herself to refocus on the ongoing   
conversation. Karrde was explaining to Skywalker the variables which were   
making them lean toward the Imperial solution.  
  
Unable to resist the temptation to add to Skywalker's discomfiture, she joined   
in and added: "It's not what they would offer, it's what they 'have' already   
offered: thirty thousands," she finished meanly, aware that this much money   
could, in a way, compensate for not killing him.  
  
It would enable Karrde's group to flourish, or... if she turned him in herself,   
it could give her the possibility to start her own business and be free from any   
obligations to anyone. However, she conceded grimly, Skywalker being alive   
would always taunt her... and her nightmares would remain. No, she decided with   
finality, Skywalker wouldn't survive their encounter.  
  
Sooner or later, she would kill him.  
  
When Skywalker searched her gaze again, she made sure that he saw this, nothing   
else. She had the satisfaction to slightly shake his composure.  
  
Then, the men continued to discuss, switching to the New Republic.  
  
The hated so-called New Republic. Would-be rulers who had done nothing but   
reinstate chaos in the galaxy. When the Emperor had lived, everything and   
everyone had known where they belonged, what had been their role in the galaxy.   
Now though, aliens were trying to sit in the Senate or at the helm of ships,   
young men had the challenge of choosing their destiny instead of being enrolled   
in the army, and outlaws were ruling on some worlds.  
  
When Karrde mentioned the most likely outcome of the war between the remnants of   
the Empire and the Republic, she tuned in once again and reminded them that the   
Jedi and his sister were key elements in Mothma's strategy of ruling while she   
willingly locked her hateful gaze with the Jedi's.  
  
Even though she didn't say it, she seemed to convey the message that she would   
make the Republic fall when he himself wouldn't be around anymore. The Jedi   
might have reacted to this, but Karrde's calm voice doused them both and the   
tension was over before it had begun.  
  
And so it went for the rest of the encounter.  
  
  
******  
  
  
Later, she escorted him back to the barracks, once again finding her gaze drawn   
to his broad shoulders. Just out of curiosity, she admitted to herself, she'd   
love to use her knife on the Jedi's clothes and see for herself just how muscled   
he was. Then, she'd assert if it were true or not.  
  
"Did I miss diner?" her prisoner queried in the silence.  
  
She answered him with as much lack of interest as she could summon.  
  
"Thank you," he answered, angering her with all his useless attempts to befriend   
her.  
  
Didn't he know by now that he was uncovered, she silently raged at him? That he   
was only irritating her with his attempts to foul her? Why, she ought to trip   
him and let him fall face first----  
  
"I don't know why you dislike me so much---" he began.  
  
"Shut up!" she snapped, then, when she felt him prepare a retort, stepped closer   
until the tip of her blaster was resting against his back. "Just shut up," she   
snarled lowly in his hear.  
  
Thankfully, the cursed Jedi complied.  
  
If only she could finish him, or torture him... or escape his influence. She   
would at least recover some peace of mind. Ever since he had woken up, she   
hadn't had a moment of respite and she was growing tired of her unceasing   
thoughts.  
  
She used to be focused, cold and efficient, she reminded herself.  
  
Her change of life hadn't been long enough for her to lose her skills, she then   
resolved as they entered the empty barracks. She was 'still' the best assassin   
there was.  
  
They finally reached his room; she nudged him inside and immediately noticed how   
he eyed the window. She meanly dissuaded him from trying anything with it.  
  
He grimaced an answer at her then stepped away from her.  
  
Mara was tempted to add another dare, but she knew when she was on the brink of   
loosing control. Furthermore, she knew that in this case, she couldn't lose   
her control. Hence, she glared at him one last time, then left and locked the   
door behind her.  
  
However, the sudden tension she had felt when he had grimaced didn't leave her.   
Instead, she continued to remember a certain boy who had grimaced exactly like   
what Skywalker had just done...  
  
Now was not the time to think about her farmboy, she admonished herself very   
sternly. She had finally caught up with Skywalker. Nothing else was important,   
not even how he weirdly brought back memories of a chance encounter on the   
desert planet of Tatooine, an encounter which she could still remember as if it   
were yesterday although without precise details about her then young   
companion... She hadn't thought about him for almost three years now... To have   
a flash of him today of all days----  
  
After she would be done with Skywalker, she promised herself, she would give   
herself time to think about her farmboy, but for the moment, she couldn't let   
her love affect her hatred for the cursed Jedi.  
  
She needed her disgust and aggressive feelings to be as strong as she could be   
against her enemy.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
A while after Mara left Luke alone, someone finally came by with food as well as   
the clothes Karrde had allowed him to retrieve.  
  
While he munched on the tasteless ration bar, Luke thought back to the dangerous   
woman he had met today. Even without the Force, he knew that she wanted to kill   
him, preferably with as much torment as possible. It wasn't the first time that   
he met such a person, whom he had probably hurt when he had been with the   
Rebellion or through the result of one of his latest missions, but, he wondered,   
what could warrant 'as much' hatred as what he had barely felt aboard their ship   
before she had blocked him off from her presence.  
  
She was obviously trained in the ways of the Force, he reflected seriously, but   
she wasn't a Jedi. On the other hand, she wasn't a dark Jedi either; that much   
he had felt during his brief mental contact with her. She was, he surmised, a   
dangerous woman who was out for his blood; a wonderful prospect.   
  
And to think, he sneered silently at himself, that his first reaction upon   
awakening in her presence had been to think that she was more than beautiful.  
  
What a great Jedi he made, he berated himself, then tossed the remnant of his   
unappetizing meal on his bunk. Despite the fact that he hadn't eaten in a   
while, he wasn't feeling particularly hungry. However, he could feel fear   
creeping up his backbone to invade his mind--- no, he blocked it again.  
  
He couldn't allow himself to be afraid. Just like it had been in his x-wing, he   
needed all his wits about himself to get out of this predicament.  
  
Especially now that he couldn't touch the Force anymore.  
  
The Force, he mused as he walked closer to the darkened window to gaze outside.   
Ever since he had begun his Jedi training, he had always been aware of its   
presence, of its warmth and Light in and around himself.   
  
Here however, thanks to those strange ysalamiri creatures, he was completely   
bereft from it. At first, it had felt as if he had suddenly gone blind, but the   
more time passed, and the more he felt as if he had also gone deaf and that he   
couldn't use his hands anymore.  
  
It was an horrible feeling.  
  
Searching the far away barracks with his eyes, he dimly wondered how Mara Jade   
was dealing with it. She hadn't seemed very affected, he conceded with a sigh   
as he turned back toward his bunk and decided to change clothes. Perhaps she   
wasn't trained enough to feel much difference, he thought while he peeled off   
his sweat-stained flight suit... Or perhaps, she preferred it this way.  
  
He then halted on a recent memory: her jade-colored eyes.  
  
Behind her blazing, unadulterated hatred for him, he had also seen pain... a   
deep, lingering pain which had made him feel bad for her. Had she not been   
aiming at him from point blank range, he knew that he would have tried to   
comfort her in some way, but of course, her blaster had efficiently dissuaded   
him from even opening this subject with her.  
  
However, he conceded, he somehow knew that he could help her... He couldn't say   
why, nor how since he wasn't in touch with the Force anymore, but he could feel   
that he could make it up to her without dying to avenge whoever she had lost   
during the war. However, he could only wish that he would remain alive long   
enough to offer this to her without risking a blaster bolt for an answer.  
  
Sighing heavily to both expel his rising fear and because he was genuinely tired   
of his unnatural day-long sleep, he felt in the darkness for his clean tank top,   
put it on, before tying arms of his flight suit around his waist, then laid back   
on his bed and gazed at the stars which were peeking in from the top edge of his   
window.  
  
Would Leia know what happened to him? he wondered uneasily. Could he try to   
reason with his captor?.. Somehow, he could feel that making Mara change her   
mind would be much more difficult than it had been with his father...  
  
TBC in part 2: Escape  
  
  
  
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)  
  
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the   
Sarlacc's throat without even being read.) 


	6. part 2: Escape

At point blank range  
Part 2: Escape  
By SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
02-02-02/06-02  
  
________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of Heir to the   
Empire belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with   
Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel,   
this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related   
to events of Heir to the Empire also belong to Timothy Zhan. Please don't sue   
me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.  
See my homepage for more details.  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her   
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving me some of   
your precious time, my friend :)  
__________________  
  
  
  
  
Back in the main barracks, Mara Jade tossed yet again on her bunk. She tried to   
force herself to sleep, she really did, but her mind seemed to be against her   
tonight. It simply wouldn't stop thinking about the Jedi who was less than   
twenty meters away from her at the moment.   
  
Ever since she had begun her hunt for him, she had never managed to get this   
close to him... And now that she was within firing range... she was not   
fulfilling her master's last command.  
  
At this thought, a new surge of hatred directed at the Jedi filled her, fully   
awakening her; she angrily flung her blanket away and stood up. Just great, she   
cursed the far away man; not only was he inhabiting her nightmares too often to   
her liking, but now, he was also keeping her awake---   
  
And that was it, she suddenly decided. She was going to finish it once and for   
all... then perhaps she'd be able to sleep.  
  
As she put on her leather suit, she thought back to the only other time when she   
had had the necessary resources to go after Skywalker.  
  
When she had gotten her mission at Jabba's Palace.  
  
  
  
'She knelt before her Emperor, a humble servant waiting for his bidding.  
  
"Rise, my Hand," he told her conversationally. "I have a new mission for you."  
  
"What is thy bidding, Master?" she inquired respectfully  
  
In answer, a huge screen flicked alive beside and behind her master's throne.  
  
On the screen was the picture of a fair-haired, dangerous-looking young man; the   
image was accompanied by text. She naturally knew that she had to read it, but   
for the first time in her life, she found her gaze lingering just slightly on   
the man's features.  
  
She somehow knew that face, her inner self told her, but she couldn't place the   
memory. She also reflected that he was handsome---  
  
"You will kill Luke Skywalker," her master suddenly ordered coldly.  
  
She snapped to attention, abandoning her study of the man's blue eyes... so like   
her farmboy's, she had finally remembered, but forced those thoughts out of her   
mind.   
  
That man would die very soon.  
  
"Do not underestimate him," her master continued, pushing a button on his   
throne; the screen changed to be filled only with text.  
  
Luke Skywalker, she read. Rebel Commander... 'typical,' she sneered then read   
on.  
Jedi in training.  
'Not typical.'  
Very dangerous and not to be underestimated  
  
She threw a gaze at the Emperor, understood that he believed in the Jedi part.   
She read on.  
  
Wanted dead or alive for the following crimes:  
- The destruction of the Death Star and the resulting death of more than a   
million officers and imperial soldiers.  
- The massacre of Vhala.  
- The destruction of several Imperial facilities.  
- The death of more than a thousand imperial sympathizers on Tihi.  
And the list went on.  
  
"This Jedi must die for his crimes, Mara Jade," her master stated with finality.   
"He uses the Force to mislead his targets, then strike when they are totally   
helpless. He is a very dangerous murderer."  
  
"I understand, Master," she bowed in respect, her eyes hard with determination.  
  
The Jedi fiend wouldn't be breathing for much longer.  
  
"One more thing," her master added coolly, leaning forward in his throne.   
  
She looked back up into his cowl, her gaze fastened where his eyes were.  
  
"Lord Vader must not know about this mission," he informed her with barely   
concealed disgust.   
  
Mara frowned slightly at that. The Emperor fist tightened in anger as he   
continued to reveal to her what he knew about her new target.  
  
"He and Skywalker faced-off on Bespin; Vader offered him a treacherous   
alliance. The Jedi scum escaped him, but there is no telling if he will return   
to make this alliance come true or not."  
  
"Will you also eliminate Vader, Master?" she queried seriously, almost   
hatefully.  
  
She didn't 'particularly' care about the arrogant Dark Lord of the Sith; he was   
powerful, hence useful to her master, but otherwise... he was a constant danger   
to monitor.  
  
"No," the old man answered her, leaning back in his deep throne, as he did every   
time he had the situation well under control. "Lord Vader sometimes is a fool,   
but he is still useful to me. With the Jedi's temptation out of the way, he   
will forget his intentions of treason."  
  
"As you wish, Master," she bowed.  
  
"You will wait for Skywalker at Jabba's Palace, on Tatooine. One of his allies   
is detained by the Hutt."  
  
"It shall be as you wish, Master. Skywalker will die," she promised him even as   
she bowed one last time, then turned around and focus on her upcoming new   
success...'  
  
  
  
Which had turned out to be one of her worst failures ever.  
  
Even when she had begun to actively serve the Emperor, she had never failed as   
miserably as she had on Tatooine. She hadn't been able to influence the fat   
slug's mind, then had completely lost track of her target in the Dune Sea.  
  
When she had finally caught up with the sail barge, it had been too late. The   
Jedi had already been gone, leaving yet another chaotic destruction in his wake.   
Of course, she conceded, the Hutt's gang hadn't been a big loss, but still, they   
hadn't been supposed to die. Naturally, the Emperor hadn't been pleased with   
her results, but instead of dealing with her right away, he had sent her on a   
new mission... then her world had burst into tiny pieces which she had never   
been able to stick back together ever since.  
  
Only now was she beginning to recover some of the 'tools' that she had once   
enjoyed without any control nor questions asked.  
  
Now armed and dressed, she exited her room and headed for the Jedi's location.  
On her way across the courtyard, she admitted to herself that the mere   
possibility of being able to leave this place without waiting for money and   
public transport meant a lot to her. Especially since she was about to defy   
Karrde's orders.  
  
Karrde, she reflected, her swift pace slowing down as doubt crept up in her mind   
once again. He had taken her in her organization without much questions, had   
always implicitly trusted her, and was now grooming her to be his second-in-  
command.  
  
And unlike the Emperor, he didn't order her around; he discussed with her.  
He was also offering her a better life than she could have hoped for after the   
past miserable five years... Did she want to ruin this, she inquired with   
herself? Even for the Emperor? He was dead, and she was alive. Wasn't she   
more important in the long run?   
  
And Skywalker...  
  
They had caught him once, if it came to that, she would be able to catch him   
again, she reflected, hastening her pace once again. Unless, she thought more   
slyly, she tried to arrange for his escape--- then hunted him down and killed   
him. Just as she had told him she could do earlier today.  
  
However, would Karrde immediately suspect her? Or would he believe her   
explanation of the Jedi's unknown tricks and that she was there at the right   
moment?  
  
She continued to debate her question for as long as she hadn't reached the   
deserted barrack.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
That night, Mara wasn't the only one struck with insomnia.  
  
Luke, who had been sleeping for the whole day, also woke after a very light nap,   
and didn't go back to sleep. Instead, he turned on the floor lamp of his cell,   
then decided to clean up a little.  
  
Anything to take his mind off his predicament, he thought earnestly as he turned   
on the cold-water tap and threw water in his face. The shock of the cold water   
woke him further, both a bad and a good thing.  
  
On the good side, it cleared his mind and allowed him to recover a more aware   
alertness, but on the bad side, his thoughts also began to fill his mind, both   
with plans to escape and scenarios of what might happen to him.  
  
Aware of what the scenarios might do to him, he forced them down and focused on   
his hopes.  
  
First, he conceded as he took off his tank top to continue his cold ablutions,   
he had to consider his options now that he couldn't use the Force. He wasn't   
completely helpless without it, but it did give him an edge which he had taken   
for granted up to now.  
  
When he failed to find a towel, he returned to his bunk, pulled his old tank top   
from its end, then returned to the small sink. At the moment, he reflected   
while he gazed at his own grim eyes, it was like when he had been a young,   
inexperienced rebel. He hadn't had the Force back then, not consciously at   
least, yet he had managed to escape from similar cells.  
  
One good point, he thought seriously, he wasn't bound in any way----  
  
A sudden physical complaint attracted his attention back to his chest. Lifting   
his makeshift towel, he didn't notice anything wrong thanks to the near   
darkness, but he had been hurt often enough to know that there was something   
there. Leaving his sodden shirt behind, he walked closer to the only source of   
light and knelt beside it. The moment that he entered the more brightly lit   
area around the lamp, he understood was wrong.  
  
His safety straps had indeed done quite a good job of saving his life, he   
admitted grimly as he studied the large black and blues which were now adorning   
both of his breastbones against which the restraints had been resting. Without   
them, he knew that he would have hit his head on the dashboard of his x-wing   
thanks to the effect of the imperial tractor beams, but still... He would wear   
them more tightly next time, he decided as he gently probed his bruises.  
  
They were tender to the touch, but if he didn't make brusque movements, they   
weren't painful at all. Well, he sighed silently, one more thing to consider in   
his escape attempts. He then checked himself up, just to double check; he   
discovered another bruising against his ribs. He thus understood that it was   
what had been barely annoying him for the past hours.  
  
He stood back to his feet and returned to the sink.  
  
There, he was so absorbed in his thoughts that he never noticed that someone was   
observing him as he continued to clean himself.  
  
  
  
  
  
Mara meant to go in the barracks and study the possibilities of the lock when   
she caught sight of the barely lit cell.  
  
'The Jedi was not sleeping', she thought even as she carefully crept closer and   
closer to the window, expecting to catch him in an escape attempt which would   
more than enough justify an injury in the knee, or any other very painful place.  
  
However, she discovered that she was entertaining more naughty thoughts than   
their prisoner was.  
  
Skywalker wasn't looking for a way out; instead, he seemed to be settling in,   
moving around--- bathing himself, she realized with a start when she finally   
identified what he was doing.  
  
She instantly stepped out of the dim light that was coming out of his window,   
debating with herself if staying around was a good idea.  
  
Her eyes seemed to decide for her though; they didn't leave the Jedi's mostly   
shadow-hidden body. For a long moment, nothing else entered her mind but the   
image of the apparently well-built, bare torso man who was taking advantage of   
his access to cold water to clean himself up.  
  
Mara couldn't believe what she was seeing.  
  
What kind of murderer and outlaw would care more about his personal hygiene than   
saving his life?, she wondered confusedly. Were she in Skywalker's place, she   
would be scavenging the place to find a way out. Heck, she conceded that she   
would even take her chance with the 'trapped' window. Unless, she reflected   
while her eyes traveled up and down the shadowed muscles of his back as he   
cleaned it up, he was vain.  
  
Yes, she decided in resurfacing contempt, that was it. The invincible Jedi was   
so proud that he wanted to die and be clean. Well, she smirked coldly, she   
could grant him that. She remained where she was and waited for him to finish--  
- but instead, he removed his boots, undid the sleeves of his flightsuit, which   
he had tied around his slim hips, and stepped completely out of his garment,   
leaving him in nothing but his thigh-long underwear.  
  
Even though the shadows were keeping her from seeing any details, she felt her   
jaw slackened at the sight of the definitely enrapturing Jedi. Too bad he was a   
target, she thought dimly while she watched him, dumbstruck.   
  
Were it not for her shock, she conceded that she might have considered being   
attracted to him, physically speaking--- then caught her thoughts and berated   
herself; it was against the code. She couldn't develop any kind of link to a   
target except one of hatred. 'For some reason however,' her mind stated shyly,   
'applying that principle to the hated Jedi is more easily said than done.'  
  
As if to prove herself right, the more she watched the young man, the more her   
thoughts turned into wild and completely unusual ideas once again---- then her   
brain caught up with her.  
  
'Whoa, Jade, what was that about?!' she asked herself in utter shock. 'You are   
not going in there except to kill him,' she then sternly reminded herself, 'and   
there's no way to make it look like an accident for the moment.'  
  
'Right,' she pouted slightly, then shook herself.  
  
Whatever that Jedi had done to her, she wouldn't give him the chance to sway   
her.   
  
As she backed away from the window, cutting off the sight of the oblivious man,   
she decided to stay away from him until she had the green light to kill him.  
  
The strange power he was using on her was more powerful than she had first   
estimated; no need to take any chances with him, she admitted seriously.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, unaware of his being spied on, Luke continued to scrub his shins   
clean. After waking up in the presence of a self-assigned assassin, he had   
never expected to be able to freshen himself up.  
  
He dimly wondered if it was Karrde's idea, or Mara's.  
  
Mara Jade, he thought again, his thoughts taking on a new course as the image of   
the fiery red-head came back to him. Was it her real name? Or was it due to   
her jade eyes?.. he wondered wistfully, then shook himself out of his naive   
reverie.  
  
Whatever it was, he sternly reminded himself, the lady was anything but jaded,   
and she was more than dedicated to her private calendar with him.   
  
Which once again led to the question of who she was, he reflected as he   
straightened up and gazed once again at his shadowy reflection. He knew that he   
was responsible for more deaths than he could count, and no matter what the   
others thoughts or said, he wasn't proud of those. He didn't regret destroying   
the Death Star, nor accomplishing his several missions since he had joined the   
Rebel-Alliance-now-turned-New-Republic.  
  
However, he conceded, casting his eyes down as his old pain resurfaced, he felt   
ashamed of being responsible for the loss of so many lives. Sure, he had saved   
countless more with his actions, but he still wished that he could have helped   
to free the galaxy without sacrificing that many souls...  
  
His father's included.  
  
He frowned slightly as a memory of his father came forth in his mind once again;   
he wondered why he brought it back to mind right now...  
  
Was he somehow attached to Mara?  
  
Not likely, he thought seriously, dismissing his wild thought. The woman looked   
like an ex-dancer, or even a concubine he conceded, but at the same time, he   
knew that it wasn't it either. Had it been the case, she wouldn't have   
displayed the cold confidence he had seen earlier today.  
  
In fact, he admitted, she had seemed confident enough to mow him down if he had   
tried anything against her. Her dark glares had certainly not left any doubts   
as to whether she was daring him or not to take a jump at her.  
  
It puzzled him. He knew that several individuals in the galaxy were interested   
to test their skills against his to prove themselves strong, or something like   
this, but this Mara Jade was different. She was definitely more than she   
looked, he decided, then reflexively smiled as a warmer thought entered his   
mind.  
  
She was not only cold either; her pained eyes had showed him that she had buried   
her heart far under all her resent and hatred, yet he could still feel that it   
was there. Like it had been with his father... he then understood.  
  
Like he had done for Anakin, he could help Mara to fight whatever he had done to   
her, but hopefully less naively than he had been with his father. After all, he   
had to stay alive to do so.   
  
He turned away from his reflection, then began to clean up the little corner   
where he had cleaned himself. He didn't have anything else to do anyway.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
Two days and three nights passed. Luke didn't see anybody but a droid who   
brought him food for each day.  
  
The more time passed, and the less he felt very threatened by his captors.  
Mara hadn't tried anything behind Karrde's back, nor had he been questioned nor   
drilled for information.  
  
It was, he reflected, as if they didn't know what to do with him. Well, he   
sighed as he leaned against the side of the window, it could be worse---  
  
As if on cue, his door suddenly opened and in stepped Mara. As it had been the   
last time that he had seen her, her weapon was unwaveringly trained on him.  
He decided to not pay attention to this, instead trying to establish some kind   
of contact with her.  
  
He had had much time to think about her and her secrets, and he had come to the   
conclusion that whatever he had done to her, the only way to convince her of his   
trustworthiness would be to behave when she was around. Only then would he be   
able to perhaps breach through to her and apologize for what he had done to her.  
  
As he gazed at her features, he noticed the same pain in her eyes than when he   
had been staring down her blaster's nozzle. Whatever he had done, he thought   
sadly, he had truly hurt her more than he had anybody else in his entire life.  
He wished he could have saved her this torment.  
  
'She must have been amazing before hatred ate up her soul,' he reflected glumly.  
  
The silence hung a little more heavily between them, then she finally bit out an   
order at him even as she motioned with her blaster.   
  
"Karrde's made a decision?" he asked calmly as he obeyed her.  
  
Since he was still gazing in her eyes, he saw a new debate enter her mind... Her   
need for revenge was still very vivid, but whatever it was that tempered her won   
again.  
  
However, she answered him as sarcastically as ever.  
  
He preceded her out of his cell, then into the strangely deserted courtyard; he   
had seen much activity in that same courtyard since he had arrived here.   
Belatedly, he understood that Karrde still kept his presence mostly secret.  
  
They finally reached the said sheds, then after a cursory check, Mara left him   
alone to his peaceful 'environment'... and perhaps an unplanned possibility to   
escape, he discovered a few minutes later.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
Still furious that she had yet again held the Jedi at point blank range but   
hadn't fired even a near miss, Jade remained beside the closed doors to make   
sure that the Jedi wouldn't be able to escape.  
  
She heard him rummage around for a while, then nothing.  
  
"Stay cool, Jedi," she spat in disgust even though he couldn't hear her, then   
left the storage area.  
  
Her day of recognition hadn't come yet, but it was coming closer, she knew it.  
Karrde was beginning to lean closer to the imperial solution than the   
Republic's, and she herself had decided that it would be a good compensation for   
her not killing the Jedi.  
  
Unless, she thought darkly, she crept aboard whichever ship he would be taken   
to, then allowed the imperials to torture him before she herself killed him.  
Nobody would know, and she herself would finally be done with her master's last   
command.  
  
She would also be free from the Jedi's sickening influence.   
  
Ever since she had spied on his ablutions, she had kept seeing flashbacks of his   
enticing body, making her lust for a man like never before. Kreth, she cursed   
as she walked toward the main building, she had been having nightmares about him   
for years now, had watched all the news about him and had compiled them before   
studying them until she estimated that she knew him almost as much as if she had   
met him, but she had never, ever felt attracted to him.  
  
Except now.  
  
Thankfully, his wearing his black uniform had woken up enough hatred and anger   
in her to keep her from reacting in any way to his close presence during the   
transfer from the barracks, but her eyes had still wandered all over his body,   
trying to imagine what he would look like in the daylight.  
  
Curse him!, she mentally spat, furious at her nemesis. Just like he had   
obviously used an unknown trick to kill the Emperor, he had managed to   
spellbound her the same way--- but she wouldn't fall for it, she resolved   
adamantly. The ysalamiri were protecting her from his complete brainwash, which   
left only one question, which she had already asked herself at least a   
thousandth time in less than two days: how could he use his powers here?..  
  
  
******  
  
  
Two hours later, she was still pondering that mystery, although with less   
intensity. Instead, her full attention was once again riveted on two of her   
enemies: Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, friends of the Jedi murderer.  
  
She knew that they weren't here to rescue him, that they would leave without any   
mishap, but how she wished she could hurt the Jedi through them. She knew that   
they too had fought against her master; further more, both of them had a hand in   
the destruction of the last Death Star.  
  
Skywalker had killed the Emperor, but his two friends had destroyed the only   
mean for the Empire to not disappear after that. What disgusted her the most,   
she reflected as she listened to Karrde's still ongoing conversation with them,   
was that like Skywalker did, they acted as if they weren't responsible for the   
murder of too many souls to count and the resulting destruction of many more   
lives.  
  
In the days of the Empire, those who had been responsible for killings or   
justified invasions had been aware of their responsibility for such actions and   
they had assumed it.  
  
Not at all like the coward rebel scums.  
  
And to think, she reflected as she slightly shifted her glare away from Solo's   
inquisitive glance, that the galaxy didn't see any of this. Instead, they were   
caught in the lies of those so-called heroes, believing their stories of good   
actions and that they would do their best for the galaxy.  
  
Yeah, right, she thought sourly; 'as if they cared about them'. They only   
wanted power, and now that they had it, they didn't do a thing for the   
population.  
  
Were she not with Karrde's group, she admitted angrily, she would be after the   
Jedi 'and' his friends. With a little more money, she conceded that she would   
even be able to make this mission come true. However, she also admitted that   
she didn't really want to leave Karrde's organization.  
  
Her work for him was different from her old life... and she found it   
challenging.  
  
Suddenly, Karrde's comlink went off; she gazed up just in time to understand   
that something bad had just happened. She waited for his confirmation, then   
stood up and followed him outside.  
  
"Bad news?" she whispered.  
  
"Bad enough," was his short answer as they entered the close-by control room.  
  
And indeed, the news were not encouraging at all.  
  
Grand admiral Thrawn had just come for a visit.  
  
  
  
  
  
Ten minutes later, she stepped out of the main building, cursing life with every   
expletive she knew.  
  
How dare Karrde patronize her with his righteous 'rules of hospitality'? He   
wasn't her father, and she hadn't disobeyed his orders in any way. However, she   
might just do it now, she thought angrily as she stomped toward her room.   
  
If that was how Karrde was rewarding her for not giving in to her unbearable   
urge to be done with the Jedi, then she would stop resisting it and be done with   
him. Even more since there was still the risk that Karrde might just change his   
mind thanks to his annoying moral code and return the Jedi to his friends.  
  
She knew that he wasn't convinced about Skywalker's fate. She wouldn't give him   
the chance to free the Jedi, she decided as she retrieved the lightsaber from   
her room, then took care of her two other assignments.  
  
While she did so however, a growing hesitancy made her doubt that killing   
Skywalker would be a wise move.  
  
Her debate went on...---- until she heard a skypray's repulsors whine to life,   
then saw the ship lift off.  
  
It didn't take her long to understand what had happened; she was right on   
Skywalker's heels. However, unlike the Jedi, she knew the ship; she was   
airborn and hot on his tail before the other had managed to kick in the main   
engines. She reflexively armed her ship's weapons, brought her thumbs on the   
trigger--- then hesitated yet again.  
  
It would be so easy, she reflected as her thumbs sank a little more on the   
deadly buttons. Just two well-placed shots in the stern and he would be gone   
forever... and her future with Karrde would also be over. Not to mention, she   
reflected---- then pulled sharply on her stick when the crazy Jedi almost rammed   
into her when he dramatically slowed down.  
  
She was too close to avoid the collision; her ship took off his tail fin even as   
his own cut one of her wing--- then they entered the denser foliage of the   
forest and she could only protect her head from the incoming impact.  
  
Thirty seconds later, she slammed hard against her restraints as her ship   
burrowed itself in the hard ground, then nothing.  
  
  
******  
  
  
When her senses returned to her, the first thing she became aware of was the   
pain that was coming from her right ankle. Gathering her strength, she pulled   
it free from its tight wedge under the dash board, then studied her   
surroundings.  
  
They had crashed; Skywalker's ship was just in front of hers, also intact. She   
thus surmised that the Jedi had survived the crash. Well, she decided, she   
wouldn't let him get away this time. She was moving out of her seat when a   
movement caught her attention outside.  
  
Skywalker had picked his way out of the wreckage. For a moment, she glared at   
him, wishing to have the Force back to strangle him right there and then, even   
if she had never had the ability to do so, then something surprising happened.  
  
He headed toward her ship.  
  
What the?.. she frowned in distrust, then decided to use his curiosity to   
recapture him. If he wanted to capture her, she smirked to herself as she   
pulled her blaster free, he would have a bad surprise.  
  
She settled in to wait.  
  
Tbc in part 3: Forest Trek  
  
  
  
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)  
  
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the   
Sarlacc's throat without even being read.) 


	7. part 3: Forest Trek

At point blank range  
Part 3: Forest Trek  
By SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
02-02-02/06-02  
  
________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of Heir to the   
Empire belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with   
Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel,   
this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related   
to the events of Heir to the Empire also belong to T. Zhan. Please don't sue   
me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.  
See my homepage for more details.  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her   
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving me some of   
your precious time, my friend :)  
__________________  
  
  
  
  
As Mara expected, the foolish Jedi stepped into her ship; he slowly came closer   
to the back of her seat... then remained silent, as if studying his options.  
  
Fortunately for her, he chose the least wise of the lot: he moved to check on   
her--- and stared right into the muzzle of her blaster once again.  
  
"I figured you'd come," she smiled meanly at him. "Back up. Now."  
  
He wisely obeyed her, but he also tried to keep her under his spell with his   
attempts to be friendly; this time he pretended to worry about her. She   
bitterly told him off as she retrieved the emergency communication kit from   
under her seat, then instructed him to retrieve the emergency pack.  
  
A few seconds later, they had reached the main hatch; the Jedi was the first   
through the hatch. Once on the soft ground, he commented about not hoping to   
walk back to the base.  
  
She couldn't help but sneer in annoyance at his vainness.  
  
"I won't," she retorted--- and noticed how high she was from the ground.  
  
Her ankle was only slightly tender at the moment, but if she jumped--- She saw   
how Skywalker noticed her hesitancy; out of pride, she jumped down but was   
careful to land more on her left than her right foot. She quickly recovered her   
balance and proceeded to back the Jedi away from the ship while she informed him   
about where things exactly stood for him.  
  
Skywalker didn't budge, either physically or mentally, at her threats.   
  
"Finishing what you started with this?" he asked instead with what looked like   
the first traces of anger in his voice since he had woken up in the barracks.  
  
She countered his reply with an angry retort, especially since she admitted out   
loud her mistake of following him from too close... She also admitted to herself   
that she had also hesitated to shoot him down... And that she still felt so.   
Right now, she was once again in an excellent position to kill him... yet still   
didn't do it.  
  
Suddenly feeling more irritated with herself than with him, she avoided more   
confrontation by ordering him to recover his droid.  
  
However, she wasn't completely done with herself. Even as she sat down and   
opened the communication kit, she asked herself once again what was so difficult   
to pull the cursed trigger. It wasn't her; she hated the Jedi. It wasn't   
Karrde either, she didn't owe him anything. No matter what he had done for her,   
she reasoned, she wasn't attached to him.  
  
That only left the Jedi. That darn murderer was doing something to her,   
something which had to do with his eyes, but she couldn't, for the Emperor's   
sake, figure out what it was.   
  
Even worse, she admitted while she fiddled with the content of the case, it   
wasn't only his eyes either: she couldn't shoot him in the back either. Perhaps   
the lightsaber would be easier, she decided as she glanced up to check on her   
prisoner. He had finished to free his droid and was waiting for her.   
  
She coolly instructed him to behave--- then froze.  
  
Far away, but coming closer, was the sound of repulsor lifts. Already, she   
frowned? Was Karrde wise to send a rescue this fast with the imperials still in   
orbit?   
  
She began to instruct her prisoner for their recovery---- then froze again. It   
wasn't just any ship, she suddenly recognized. That was an imperial pitch!   
  
Not knowing how Skywalker's presence would look to them, she decided that they   
couldn't be found. She slammed the computer shut even as she gathered their   
survival kit.  
  
"Move!" she ordered sharply.   
  
When Skywalker hesitated, she entertained the thought of firing at his feet to   
get him running, but changed her mind. She couldn't take the risk of hurting   
him right now.  
  
"Into the trees--- both of you. I said move!" she spat more forcefully; the   
Jedi finally obeyed her.   
  
She ran straight behind him, making sure that he wasn't attempting anything   
while they were running for cover.   
  
Finally, she estimated that they were far enough. She told him to hide his   
droid, then to hit the dirt. She kept an eye on him as he complied... and was   
greatly surprised when he laid right beside her on the ground, as if he trusted   
her, but she wasn't dupe. 'She' didn't trust him. She brought her blaster   
closer to his jaw even as she positioned herself halfway over him so that he   
wouldn't escape her easily.  
  
Skywalker felt it too.  
  
"Not a move, not a sound," she whispered warningly as she viciously wedged her   
weapon in his jaw before settling in to wait. Skywalker followed suite.  
  
In the clearing, stormtroopers spread around the crash's site, looking for   
traces of their presence. The more she watched them, and the more her resolve   
to not hand her prisoner over to what remained of the Empire hardened.   
  
They didn't deserve to be called imperials anymore, she sneered at the far away   
troops. They were closer to mercenaries than true servants of the late Emperor.   
She wouldn't give them the privilege of killing the Emperor's murderer.   
  
Under herself, the said man began to grow impatient--- then a subtle shift of   
his muscles informed her that he wasn't as quiet as he looked. She warned him   
to remain quiet or else he wouldn't survive for much longer. The man nodded   
silently and forced himself to relax.   
  
While the other relaxed, she herself began to grow aware of her 'exact' position   
against the Jedi's body... and her memory of what she had seen three days ago   
brought back feelings she didn't want to even think about. No, she berated   
herself even as she hurried to focus on her hatred, she wasn't the least bit   
interested by the Jedi's work-of-art body.  
  
He had destroyed her life, she viciously reminded herself; he would pay with   
his.  
  
Eventually, the troopers finally re-entered their shuttle, then the clearing   
recovered its peace and quietness. Under her, Skywalker moved to get up; she   
stilled him with a stronger pressure of her blaster against his jugular.   
  
"Quiet," she hissed, then pointed out that they might not be as safe as they   
thought they were. Once she had convinced her prisoner of following her lead,   
she instructed him to remain quiet and lead the way 'away' from the clearing.  
  
  
  
A minute later, Skywalker was once again walking in front of her, stopping then   
and again to help his droid over roots or out of long grass.  
  
At long last, she called for a stop and found a log to take her weight   
off her aching ankle; the Jedi sank to the rough ground.  
  
"Thank you for not turning me over to the stormtroopers," he told her in that   
irritating earnestness of his.  
  
"Save it," she bit out. While she re-opened her computer pad and resumed her   
triangulation operation, she told him 'exactly' why she hadn't killed him. Were   
it not for their situation, she thought in hatred, the murderer would already be   
dead.  
  
"You could call him," the Jedi naively offered her in the silence.  
  
Had she not hated him so much, she conceded that she might have laughed at his   
stupid offer, but she had never been in the habit of laughing anyway. Instead,   
she curled her lips into a disgusted sneer and told him what she thought about   
his 'brilliant' idea before telling him to shut up and let her do her   
calculations.  
  
The Jedi obeyed once again and fell silent. She called up data, then, with the   
help of the computer's infrared link with location satellites, pinpointed their   
current location. From there, she plotted the shortest path to the edge of the   
forest. All the while, she kept an eye on the Jedi, wary for any of his tricks   
even though he couldn't touch the Force anymore.  
  
Finally, she had her answer.  
  
"Three days," she informed her prisoner.  
  
"Three days to what?" he asked somewhat suspiciously.  
  
"The edge of the forest, civilization, well, Hyllyard City anyway, which is   
about as close as this part of the planet gets to it."  
  
"And how many of us will be going there?" he asked her defiantly, slowly   
acquiring a less relaxed position.  
  
He sure was clever, she admitted even as she picked up her blaster from her lap.  
  
"That's the question, isn't it?" she taunted him, calling up all the hatred and   
anger that she felt for the Jedi. This time, she resolved seriously, she would   
pull the trigger... yet challenged him to give her one reason to spare his life.  
  
To her surprise, he did have a reason. She couldn't help but chortle in   
disbelief at his thought that she would need a droid. She refuted his argument   
by telling him about the very soon-to-come fate of the robot.   
  
"In pieces?" the Jedi gaped, throwing a worried gaze at his robot.  
  
As if he cared, she reflected dimly, but shoved the upcoming about such behavior   
away from her mind. At last, she sighed in bliss, she was going to kill Luke   
Skywalker; there would be time for the rest once she were done.  
  
However, she didn't kill him right away; instead, she continued to justify her   
decision about the robot, generating more questions from the stupid 'hero'.   
  
When he asked her what she meant about knowing too much, she barely kept herself   
from rolling her eyes in annoyance. He was supposed to be a hardened fighter,   
she wanted to remind him, not a green-horned kid.  
  
"You, Karrde, me---- this whole stupid mess," she still specified for him.  
  
It had been supposed to be simple, she thought angrily. A shot, the Jedi   
killed, she was free. But instead, it just kept getting more complicated with   
each new development. But no more, she reminded herself sternly.  
  
Meanwhile, Skywalker was still trying to convince her to save the droid. She   
didn't let him sway her 'hand'. Further more, she promised herself that if he   
didn't drop that pretense of being kind, she might just take a shot at him after   
all, if only to shut him up.  
  
The Jedi seemed to fail to understand this and instead continued with his plea   
for his robot. He also failed to decode her hateful glare when he suggested   
that she would have to keep him alive to use the droid.  
  
Protect, really?, she silently sneered even as she glared at him and tightened   
her grip on her blaster. Her weapon was now unwaveringly pointed at the Jedi's   
heart.  
  
He saw it too and swallowed hard in obvious fear.  
  
So he wasn't as courageous as others made him to be, she smirked inwardly.   
Good. She would make sure everyone knew what a coward he was.  
  
"Are you sure you're not letting your emotions get in the way of your judgment?"   
he asked her next instead of begging for his life.  
  
While his answer surprised her, it wasn't a welcome surprise. That self-  
righteous, little---- Did he think that she would abandon her duty for anything?   
And she could sure survive without any help. She slit her eyes even as she   
closed in for the kill, lowering herself to her knees until she stood on three,   
her blaster aimed steadily at her target.  
  
"Let me tell you something, Skywalker," she snarled lowly, savoring his gradual   
loss of serenity.  
  
At last.  
  
And while the Jedi took his last breaths, she told him 'exactly' what was her   
relationship with him, how much she hated him. While she retold the past five   
years of her life, her finger pulled back the trigger to the almost shooting   
point as unpleasant memories assailed her mind: her pain, her anger, the cold   
disappointment and fury of her master... "You can call it a cloud on my   
judgment if you want to; I'm used to it by now," she bit out bitterly even as   
she tried to avoid his piercing... disturbing blue gaze.  
  
He was always looking at her, she dimly noticed with unease; ever since he had   
woken up in the barracks, he had never, ever gazed at her weapon or away...It   
was really beginning to unnerve her, was even beginning to make her doubt   
everything she had read and heard about him. In fact, deep down, she barely   
conceded that he seemed to be a nice guy --- but instantly shooed that thought   
away from her mind. It was a trick, she reminded herself, it was all a trick:   
his eyes, his body, his kindness, it was just a strategy to save his life, but   
it wouldn't work, she resolved, tightening her grip on her weapon even as she   
brought her weapon level with his head.  
  
"What did I do to you?" her prisoner finally whispered in stark terror, showing   
her a side of the Jedi that she hadn't thought existed.  
  
He was not afraid like someone about to lose everything he had, she reflected in   
puzzlement; instead, he was reacting like someone who was afraid of what he had   
done. It's just another trick, she sternly told herself when she felt her   
resolve falter yet again; the Jedi continued to stare wide-eyed at her.  
  
"You destroyed my life," she answered him with deep-seated resent. "It's only   
fair that I destroy yours," she stated to both him and herself as she felt   
herself waver yet again under his intense gaze.  
  
He didn't have the gaze of a murderer, a small voice seemed to tell her; she   
slammed that voice shut and refocused on her mission.   
  
Her duty.  
  
Her target tried yet again to reason with her; she didn't let him.  
  
"It is something I have to do," she stated coldly, "for myself and for---" she   
suddenly froze inwardly.  
  
The Emperor... She hadn't killed for him in nearly five years... The Emperor,   
her bitter master who had given her a last mission and a nightmare to never   
forget it...  
  
Why had he done that?, she wondered for the first time since she had begun to   
have her recurrent nightmares. Why had he left her with this agony---  
  
Because she had failed him, her assassin personality told her, seeking to take   
over her doubts, but somehow, she noticed that she wasn't willing to let her   
take over this time.  
  
Skywalker was---  
  
"What about Karrde?" the reason for her pain asked in the silence, managing to   
make her stop in her mental progress yet again.  
  
Her cold self became even colder at his weak attempt to make her doubt her   
decision.  
  
"We all want things we can't have," she bit out acidly, then meant to pull the   
trigger.  
  
She still couldn't.  
  
"I almost wish I could drag it out a little more," she commented to hearten   
herself, "but I don't have the time to spare."  
  
'Now!' she ordered herself... but her blaster still remained mute in her hand.  
She was aware that she only needed to pull the trigger an extra millimeter   
backward and he would be a goner... but she couldn't.  
  
A small voice inside her head, one which reminded a lot of herself as a young   
child before she had begun her training, was telling her to not do that. That   
she would kill a nice man instead of a murderer.  
  
'So what,' she mentally argued with the voice. She had already done it more   
times than she could count. What was one more or one less kill?   
  
Despite her cold argument however, she still couldn't take the life out of   
Skywalker's eyes... eyes that didn't belong to the cold individual she had been   
chasing for years now.  
  
Even as she considered at least hurting him if only to spend her frustration,   
which was currently directed at herself, he fought past his fright to think of   
another solution.  
  
"Wait!" he called, lifting his hands in defense. "You said you needed to find   
out what Karrde had told the Imperials. What if I could get you a secure com   
channel to him?" he offered her in his damnable earnest fashion.  
  
"How?" she narrowed her eyes, wary for a trap which he would then use to exploit   
her inconceivable, actual weakness.  
  
The man exposed his new idea to her.  
  
Mara barely threw a glance at the package of the survival kit, then back at her   
prisoner. What did he have in mind this time?  
  
She found out a few seconds later and understood that he was trying to save both   
himself and the droid yet again. She challenged him about the flaw of his 'too'   
perfect plan... and discovered that the Jedi might be clever after all.  
  
He knew a lot about his x-wing and the astromech droid, and the plan was   
sound... except for one, tiny detail.  
  
"I thought standard procedure was to wipe and reload droid memories every six   
months," she asked him seriously.  
  
"I like Artoo the way he is," was Skywalker's unexpected answer.  
  
It threw her for a loop.  
  
He liked his droid? As in... care?? Was he insane?, she asked herself even as   
she realized that she had made her decision, for the moment. She would keep the   
Jedi alive for a little while longer.  
  
Meanwhile, her prisoner answered her. "He and the X-wing work better together   
this way."  
  
"How much better?" she asked in subdued interest.  
  
"I don't remember the exact number," the man began thoughtfully, "but it was   
something like thirty percent faster than a baseline astromech/x-wing   
interface."  
  
And with that, she knew that he hadn't made this up.  
  
"That's counterpart speed all right," she conceded slowly.   
  
And that settled it, she decided even as she lowered her blaster from its   
straight line of fire. Sure, the Jedi was still the same man she had to kill,   
the man who had killed 'her' in a way; it was her duty to take his life, even if   
she hadn't been able to pull the trigger here yet she had tried harder than   
hard. Perhaps she needed him alive after all, she conceded reluctantly.   
  
However, she thought more coldly, he would have to drop that annoying attitude   
of his. Otherwise, he might still not make it if he got one too many times on   
her sensitive nerves.  
  
They discussed the details of their strategy for a short while longer, then she   
refocused on their exact predicament.  
  
"Funny, isn't it," she asked him in still lasting hatred. "this scheme of yours   
just happens to require that I keep both of you alive a while longer."  
  
Which meant, she realized, that she would have to deal with more confusing   
thoughts because of him.  
  
Still, she reminded herself seriously, she didn't have any other option. She   
'knew' it.  
  
She motioned to the droid with her weapon. "What about the droid?"   
  
The Jedi offered to build a travois for it, if she would give him back his   
lightsaber for a few minutes. Her weapon was reflexively trained back on him.   
  
She might have spared his life... for the moment, but she wasn't about to trust   
him, let alone give him back a weapon.  
  
"Sit down," she snapped, herself standing up. "I'll do it."  
  
She walked closer to the branches, studying them while calling back to her mind   
her lessons about economy of movements with a lightsaber.  
  
"Those two," he indicated, then added: "be careful, lightsabers are tricky to   
handle."  
  
That care again, she rolled her eyes. "Your concern for my welfare is   
touching," she sneered, then drew the said weapon and neatly cut two branches,   
then trimmed them so that they could be used as a travois. She turned back   
toward her 'audience' and was pleased to see him dumbstruck. Now he would know   
not to trifle with her, she thought grimly. "Help yourself," she commented and   
returned the weapon to her belt, where it belonged, she thought with finality.  
The Jedi's weapon would be hers, as a well-deserved trophy.   
  
"You've used a lightsaber before," her prisoner commented as he crossed path   
with her.  
  
She confirmed his feeling with all the hatred and coldness she could muster   
while looking in his eyes; the Jedi seemed to get her message: 'don't trifle   
with me.'  
  
She surveyed him while he demonstrated his talents of carpenter.  
  
  
  
  
  
While he tried to understand what he had just witnessed, Luke pulled some rope   
from the nearby trees, then wove the two ends into some kind of net which would   
support Artoo's weight. Then, he set about securing his friend on it while   
under the unwavering surveillance of his would-be assassin.   
  
It had been a close call this time, he reflected. Without his plan, he had no   
doubts that he would be feeding the grass now. Then, of course, there was the   
question as to how long he would have a reprieve before her unhealthy hatred   
resurfaced and convinced her to pull the trigger. Somehow, he knew that she   
wouldn't do it, but since his naivete had a knack to get him into worst   
situations than the ones he was already in, he decided to keep an eye open for   
any change of attitude on her part.  
  
He had been right though, he reflected even as he made sure that his droid   
wouldn't fall off his mean of transportation. He had hurt her in a worse way   
than he had first estimated, but he still couldn't understand what he had   
exactly done to her. Who was she? She knew how to use lightsabers? Was it due   
to a preparation for his death? Or was it a remnant of her old life?  
  
"All right, let's go," the woman suddenly ordered in the silence, standing up   
from her chosen seat on a fallen log.  
  
Luke winced slightly. He didn't know if his travois would be sturdy enough to   
support Artoo's weight.  
  
"I'd like to test it first---" he requested, then fell mute when she stalked   
closer and wedged the tip of her blaster in his jaw.  
  
"Just so it's clear, Skywalker," she snarled at him, "you are still my prisoner,   
and if you question my orders, you won't like the consequences," she warned him   
darkly. "After all," she added meanly, "I can hurt you without killing you if I   
wish."  
  
Luke meant to remind her that he wouldn't be efficient if he were hurt, but   
thought better than that. Instead, he met her cold glare with his defiant one,   
then waited for her to leave him alone. And as he had thought she would, she   
eventually pulled her blaster away from his jaw and jabbed him forward with it.  
  
"Move," she snapped.  
  
Crossing his fingers that he had done a good first job, the Jedi took hold of   
the two makeshift handles, then slowly tilted the wooden travois until he could   
drag it behind him. Artoo tchirped slightly as he adapted to the new position,   
then, after a few tests to make sure that his metallic friend was held steady in   
the contraption, Luke walked on without anymore prompting from his captor.  
  
  
  
  
  
Behind him, Mara followed, expertly evaluating the Jedi's handiwork while   
calculating the necessity to tie the prisoner's hands to his charge. Given the   
confusing devotion that Skywalker showed to his robot, she surmised that he   
wouldn't entertain thoughts of running away from her, thus leaving his 'friend'   
to her dangerous aim.  
  
Who had ever heard of devotion to a droid?, she sneered in disgust.   
  
'But then,' her small, younger mental voice told her, 'who had ever heard of a   
murderer adulated by the crowd?'  
  
'Shut up!', she spat at it once again, but it was too late.  
  
Doubts had already resurfaced in her mind. She had watched the reports after   
the destruction of her life, had committed them all to her memory so that she   
knew exactly what her target had done during the past five years.   
  
Her first thought was that he hadn't killed anyone anymore.  
  
It enraged her.  
  
'So what,' she argued with herself while she kept her eyes riveted on her   
prisoner. It had only been a ploy to rise to the position he was now enjoying   
in the government. 'Besides,' she argued with herself, 'even the media might   
not know everything about him.'  
  
'And what if he had never been a murderer in the first place?' her small voice   
inquired insistently.  
  
Literally furious at herself, Mara almost, almost took a shot at her prisoner   
out of frustration--- when Skywalker's droid squealed in warning. She refocused   
on the present just in time to spot a big vornsk as it leapt down from its perch   
which was located in the tree on their left.  
  
"Duck!!!" she snapped even as she shifted her aim and caught the predator dead   
in the head.  
  
In front of her, the Jedi obeyed her command and dropped to the ground, letting   
go of his robot's travois to do so. The small droid squealed in protest upon   
the rough impact, then whistled something once the danger was over.  
  
"I'm alright, Artoo," Skywalker answered him, then focused his blue eyes on her.   
"thanks to you," he finished gratefully.  
  
"Spare me your gratitude," she reflexively spat at him even though her weapon   
wasn't trained on him anymore. "As you said, I need both of you alive," she   
reminded him sarcastically.  
  
"I see," he answered, non-committal, then pushed himself back to his feet.   
  
As she watched him recover a straighter posture, she felt the fierce desire to   
ask him what he wasn't telling her in his answer, but she bit her tongue to   
silence herself.   
  
She would not fraternize with her target, she reminded herself. Having been   
unable to pull the trigger once had been bad enough. When the time would come,   
she didn't want to face that problem again.  
  
In front of her, Skywalker took hold again of the droid's travois, and they were   
back on their way, searching for a clearing from which they would send their   
heavily encrypted message.  
  
TBC in part 4: Skywalker   
  
  
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)  
  
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the   
Sarlacc's throat without even being read.) 


	8. part 4: Skywalker

At point blank range  
Part 4: Skywalker  
By SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
02-02-02/06-02  
  
________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of Heir to the   
Empire belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with   
Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel,   
this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related   
to the events of Heir to the Empire also belong to T. Zhan. Please don't sue   
me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.  
See my homepage for more details.  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her   
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving me some of   
your precious time, my friend :)  
__________________  
  
  
  
  
  
After what Luke surmised as two hours after they had set out on their trek, they   
finally found a clearing to set the sonde balloon.  
  
By then, twilight had begun to settle over their area of planet.  
  
At first, Mara kept him in range while he prepared Artoo for the most important   
part of his plan, then she ordered him to sit a good three meters away from her,   
his hands on his head.   
  
Thus holding his position, he watched her as she sent her message to Karrde.   
While he made sure to not give her a single reason to feel threatened by him, he   
studied her most intently.   
  
She was quite a mystery, he admitted to himself. Back at the base, he had   
thought that she had only been a regular being who had been pushed into a lust   
for revenge after the loss of a loved one, but out here, in the wild, he had   
seen her true abilities...  
  
He knew now that she was a professional at whatever she had done before hunting   
him down. A sharper shooter than even Leia was, she had also demonstrated her   
fighting skills during a very brief attack from a creature who had tried to   
catch her foot, then, there was her knowledge of lightsaber techniques... Where   
had she learnt all those skills?, he wondered while he watched her reel the   
sonde balloon back down. She could be a remnant of Black Sun, something like   
Guri but alive--- hey, he stopped short.  
  
What if his lack of feeling for her was due to the fact that she wasn't a living   
being? He had taken her word for it when she had told him about the loss of the   
Force, but... He tried to reach out once again... and understood that Karrde's   
explanation was the true one.  
  
He was truly cut off from the Force while on this planet.  
  
"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" her taunting voice entered his senses.  
  
He refocused on her and noticed the mean curl of her lips.  
  
"As you said," he retorted softly, sadly, "it isn't easy to loose something   
which once made you special."  
  
He expected her to laugh at his discomfiture, but instead, he only managed to   
anger her. Before he had realized that she had moved, she was standing in front   
of him and pulling him to his feet. Once they were once again at eye level, she   
shoved the tip of her blaster back in his jaw, then he heard the slight,   
grinding sound of a moving trigger.  
  
"I should kill you for making fun of this," she growled in anger. "I really   
should."  
  
Behind them, the droid went about a lecture of warnings and outrage.   
  
For a moment, Luke could only stare at her, careful to remain still and not give   
her any reason to pull the trigger. The longer he gazed at her, and the more he   
saw the undeniable pain in her eyes, a pain which literally tore at his own   
heart. What in the Force had he done to her?, he wondered helplessly, and more   
important: how could he help her? He didn't know exactly where his feeling was   
coming from, but more and more, he had the distinct feeling that she didn't know   
the whole truth about him... that she was seeing him for someone he wasn't.  
  
If that were the case, then, he thought seriously, he had a chance to help her.  
Directly in front of him, the woman's eyes were ablaze with cold hatred; even   
the dimming light couldn't hide this painful sight from him.  
  
Finally, he did the only thing he could think of: he apologized.  
  
"I'm sorry, Mara. I didn't mean to upset you."  
  
  
  
  
Mara was once again facing the choice to pull the trigger or not, and once   
again, she couldn't. Even worse, Skywalker wasn't even fighting against her;   
instead, he was standing in front of her, his arms still at his sides--- his   
eyes piercingly gazing in hers.  
  
Instead of being cold, they were gentle, worried, and mostly compassionate.   
Where was the cold murderer?, she suddenly wanted to shake out of him. Where   
was her target and who was the man who was gazing back at her like a worried   
friend would.   
  
No, she instantly blocked that thought from her mind. He had just laughed at   
her distress, had given her a proof that he was playing a role with her.  
  
And yet... the more she glared into his eyes, and the more they softened,   
threatening to swallow her whole with their kindness. She pushed her blaster   
harder in his jaw, more out of frustration than any need to threaten him.  
  
"I'm sorry, Mara," he finally told her, his voice a mirror of his eyes. "I   
didn't mean to upset you."  
  
For a brief moment, the assassin didn't know how to react.  
  
Never in her life had she dealt with such a man... He wasn't afraid of her   
threats, and he didn't hold any visible grief against her.   
  
No, she reminded herself, it was just a ploy.   
  
She viciously shoved him away from herself; Skywalker tripped slightly on his   
feet and landed hard against a nearby tree.  
  
"Don't do it again," she warned him, then motioned him up to his feet. "We have   
to get out of the clearing before it's too dark to find ourselves a place to   
spend the night."  
  
Groggily, her prisoner pushed himself back to his feet, then walked past her,   
rubbing his neck. His eyes never left hers, yet again ignoring the fact that a   
fully-loaded blaster was aimed at his heart.  
  
  
  
  
When Luke approached Artoo's location, the little droid softly fluted an inquiry   
at him. The Jedi remained silent, absorbed in his own thoughts.  
  
Something had happened just a moment ago. After he had apologized to his   
captor, a flash of something had crossed her eyes. Were he still naive, he   
would have seen it as almost attraction, but he knew better than that. One   
thing was sure though, he reflected while he continued to rub his aching neck:   
it had been confusion.  
  
There was more about Mara Jade than what he could see on the surface.  
  
"Come on, get up!" the object of his thoughts snapped. "Don't be a baby about   
this; you don't even have a scratch."  
  
True, he conceded while he sealed up Artoo's communicator equipment; he was   
feeling more confused than he ached. He stood back up, then checked the   
travois to make sure that it was still securely fastened to his friend. As he   
did so, he realized that not one injury had befallen him since he had fallen in   
Mara's grip... even if she undoubtedly hated him enough to let a few of those   
happen.  
  
Unless...  
  
"Can I ask you a question?" he finally inquired in the silence.  
  
"If it gets you moving," she retorted coldly even as she walked closer, "but   
don't expect an answer."  
  
Luke took a deep breath and locked his eyes on hers again.  
  
"If you hate me as much as you say, why didn't you let the vornsks hurt me even   
a little today?"  
  
Mara's eyes hardened at this; Luke flinched slightly but continued on his idea.   
He had to know.  
  
"I mean, you're an excellent shot; you could have taken them off of me whenever   
you chose without hurting me too much."  
  
For a brief moment, it looked as if he was going to pay for his daringness...   
But in the end, no shot came from the blaster... nor did any other type of   
attack either.  
  
"Move!" his captor finally spat in a tone which left no space for discussion.  
  
He obeyed her and resumed their trek, wondering if he would ever breach through   
to her.  
  
  
  
  
What he didn't know though was that he had managed to do so.  
  
Mara was fuming mad behind her prisoner, and the most infuriating factor of the   
whole situation was that he was right. No matter if his injuries would slow   
them down or not, she would have enjoyed seeing him in pain, then forcing him   
back to his feet to trudge on.  
  
Now that would be the beginning of a sweet revenge, she smirked faintly,   
coldly... then sighed in annoyance as she reconsidered what 'had', in fact,   
happened.  
  
Throughout the afternoon, she had reflexively shot any threat off of the Jedi   
before the beasts had even gotten close to him, saving him from any torment.   
Aside from the reason that she needed him healthy to use his droid, she was   
beginning to realize that something else was motivating her actions... and   
Skywalker was also beginning to understand this.  
  
The strangest thing about it was that his most recent comment hadn't been that   
of an enemy at all. Whether she accepted it or not, he had shown her kindness.   
Just like when he had apologized, she then reluctantly admitted... and when he   
had wondered about what he had done to her... and when he had checked on her   
after the crash... and---  
  
"Stop!" she suddenly snarled out loud, drawing the attention of her prisoner.  
  
"What's wrong?" he inquired in his gentle manner.   
  
Huh, she thought quickly even as she tried to come up with an excuse for her   
vocal, unforgivable outburst.  
  
"We'll camp here," she finally growled in frustration at herself as she moved   
toward a big-bowled tree.   
  
Skywalker nodded, set his droid back on its feet, then sat beside him. He   
sighed in relief.  
  
"Well," he commented wryly to the droid, "that was quite a day, wasn't it?"  
  
"Oh, we can repeat it tomorrow, with different results," she answered   
sarcastically while she turned on the survival lamp.  
  
Skywalker threw her a glance, then lapsed into silence.  
  
Good, she thought as she settled down, finally taking her weight off her ankle.   
She didn't want to 'chat' with her prisoner. Meanwhile, her ankle continued to   
throb with pain; she forced herself to forget it. It wasn't broken, hence   
couldn't stop her.  
  
Instead, she focused on her survival and broke out a ration bar from her pack.  
If everything went well, she calculated mentally, they should reach their   
destination around the middle of the day after tomorrow. That meant, she   
checked in her survival pack, that she had enough water and food to last for an   
extra day or two----  
  
She belatedly remembered that she wasn't alone. A man was with her, and given   
the physical exercise that they would be doing, she suspected that he too would   
be hungry. Well, he could starve for all she cared, she reflexively thought,   
then a doubt entered her mind.  
  
If she didn't feed him, he would delay her for sure and they would both end up   
without enough food nor water. With a barely concealed snarl, she tossed a bar   
on his lap.   
  
She noted that he didn't seem overly surprised by her decision. He even thanked   
her.  
  
Again.  
  
If he did it just one more time, she promised herself, she was going to gag him   
for the duration of their trek throughout the forest.  
  
She was tired to have doubts about---  
  
A movement caught her attention; she drew her weapon and prepared to fire...   
then froze even as her prisoner did.  
  
"Hey, I'm just... taking off my shirt," he explained even as he pulled the   
garment open, then off his arms...  
  
His muscled arms which where more than visible despite the dim lighting of the   
survival lamp.   
  
When she didn't threaten him anymore, the Jedi nodded, then bunched up his shirt   
and made himself a small pillow before settling himself down; she herself   
followed every one of his gestures, uncontrollably entranced by the sight of his   
shifting biceps and forearms. That, she dimly reflected, wasn't the result of   
tricks.   
  
Such coordination could only come from diligent training; it puzzled her. From   
what she knew of Skywalker, he wouldn't be an athlete one single bit.  
  
  
  
  
While Mara settled herself for what Luke surmised would be a night watch, he   
himself tried to make himself comfortable for the night. Despite his tank top,   
the ground under him was cold and hard, something which wasn't particularly   
pleasant for him, no matter that he had never particularly cared about comfort   
before.  
  
There was just a limit to what he liked.  
  
However, at the moment, it was the least of his concerns. Even though he needed   
to sleep to survive his actual predicament, he had to admit that he wasn't sure   
if it would be a wise idea or not. A minimum of two enemies were nearby,   
waiting to kill him, but he already knew that one of those would protect him   
from the other.  
  
Mara had obviously appointed herself as his bodyguard for the moment... even if   
she still meant to turn back into his assassin once this would be over.   
However, he conceded, assassin or not, she seemed to lack the cold quality of a   
heartless killer. If she didn't have a heart, he knew that he would already be   
dead. Kind of like... with his father, he reflected yet again.  
  
The more he thought about the similarities about the two enemies, and the more   
his memory merged with reality...  
  
"Reminds me of Endor," he finally commented out loud to pull himself out of the   
past.   
  
To his slight surprise, his cold companion answered him and even gave him more   
information about the forest and its inhabitants.  
  
"Strange," he reflected out loud, "Karrde's pet vornrsks seemed wide enough   
awake in late afternoon."   
  
As had the wild ones who had taken a try at him today. Mara answered him, with   
more details, which led to a few exchange about their traveling strategies.   
Luke thus discovered that she wasn't only a skilled fighter, she also knew much   
about tactic and how to exploite the environment's capabilities.  
  
When he told her so, she snorted at his comment and belittled her talent as   
being normal skills.  
  
"Oh," he answered in turn, then turned his head back toward the leafy canopy,   
wondering why she had reacted that way to his comment.  
  
He hadn't been sarcastic nor fishing for information. Instead, he had genuinely   
been impressed by her knowledge of her territory. Even though he himself knew   
how important it was to be familiar with new environments, he somehow had the   
feeling that he wouldn't have known nearly as much as she did about this place   
had the situation been reversed.  
  
He had been on enough different planets during the Rebellion to know that he had   
never bothered about an in-depth investigation of their new territories.  
  
What would have been the point back then? he asked himself. Except for a few,   
rare bases, they were constantly changing locations and were not interested to   
explore the territory... except on Hoth to patrol the icy plains.  
  
Now there was a place where more knowledge about the Wampas would have been   
useful, he conceded with a slight grimace.   
  
He lightly touched his remaining scar, easily tracing it with his index.  
  
He had been lucky that day, he knew. From loosing an eye to being eaten alive   
to freezing to death, several things could have gone wrong, but instead, he had   
survived... to save his father, he now knew.  
  
Kind of like today, he then reflected seriously.  
  
He could have perished in the crash landing, or could have gotten killed by Mara   
or vornsks, but once again, he was still alive... but for which reason this   
time---   
  
Artoo suddenly made a sound of warning.  
  
"I think Artoo's picked up something," he told his captor even as he himself   
leaned up on his elbows.  
  
"No kidding," was the woman's answer even as she turned on their small luma and   
lit one of the hungry beasts.  
  
This one was barely less than a meter away from him, its tail wordlessly telling   
him that it was ready to pounce on him, its jaw already salivating at the   
prospect of its upcoming meal.   
  
As it continued to advance toward him, Luke's eyes never left the predator; he   
also dimly grew aware that the thought of running away didn't enter his mind.  
  
A nano-second later, he understood why. He now literally trusted Mara to save   
his life. Not too far from him, the animal died, its tail twitching one last   
time before it too stilled completely.  
  
"Awfully good thing we have your droid's sensor along," his savior commented   
sarcastically.  
  
"Well, I wouldn't have known there was any danger without him," he informed her   
truthfully, suppressing a shudder at the thought that he felt as if he were back   
on Hoth.  
  
Inexperienced.  
  
Vulnerable.  
  
"Thank you," he told her gratefully.  
  
"Forget it," she spat in return.  
  
He barely shook his head at her rude mannerism, which looked more and more like   
a mask to him than the truth, then his gaze rested on the shadow of the dead   
animal.  
  
"Are Karrde's vornsks a different species? Or did they have their tail   
removed?" he asked her conversationally.  
  
Again, a silence followed his question, but when he turned around to see his   
captor's face, she was as impassible as ever.  
  
However, she did engage in more details about their actual enemy. This topic   
then led to the fact that they were probably surrounded by such beasts.  
  
"Fortunately, you seem to be an excellent shot," he told her with barely   
concealed relief, then lowered himself back to the ground.  
  
When no answer came forth from his companion, he knew that he had either upset   
her again, or something else was going on in her mind. Whatever it was, he   
hoped that his trust in her wasn't naive. How did he get himself in such   
situations, he wondered with a sigh. Captured by a group of smugglers, trapped   
on the only planet of the galaxy where he couldn't use the Force, and protected   
by a very beautiful but very deadly assassin...  
  
A trained assassin, he reflected, trying to put more pieces of Mara Jade's   
puzzle together.  
  
She was athletic, focused, an excellent shot, and she had used a lightsaber   
before. She also seemed trained to bear up with pain since she had been walking   
on a twisted ankle all day long.  
  
He dimly wondered if she were feeling better or worse after their trek, but   
decided to not ask her. He knew now that her temper matched her fiery hair...  
Her beautiful, red-gold hair which were somehow familiar, yet he knew that he   
had never seen such hair before in his life.  
  
As for the type of character, she was worse tempered than Leia had been during   
the Rebellion, but she was not as cold as Guri had been either.  
  
She was a human... dangerous, but more and more obviously tormented young   
woman... Who had trained her? he tried to figure out yet again. Who was   
responsible for her torment beside him?..  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
The night slowly passed by for Mara while the Jedi slept through it all.  
  
He didn't even blink when she killed a few more predators throughout the night.  
  
The moment that the first rays of the sun pierced the canopy, she woke him up   
with a nudge of her blaster against his cheek; coupled with a burbling noise   
from the droid, the Jedi awoke almost instantly.  
  
"Got enough beauty sleep?" she asked him sarcastically, then stood up and nudged   
him with her foot. "Get up, it's time to go," she ordered him even as she   
crouched by her small survival kit.   
  
Behind her, she heard the Jedi stretch himself; while a small part of her   
yearned to turn around and enjoy the sight once again, she didn't give in her   
desire. She had spent the whole night watching their surroundings while trying   
to not be too distracted by his bare, muscled arms; she really didn't trust   
herself to resist the 'real' sight of them.  
  
Even more than her hesitancy to kill him, her weird reactions to his body were   
greatly puzzling her. In the past ten years since she had become an active   
agent for the Emperor, she had never, ever felt anything for any man that could   
compare with what she felt for the Jedi... Even her farmboy hadn't affected her   
this way.  
  
Right now, she simply felt true physical attraction for her target, a feeling   
that just wouldn't obey her normally strict self-control.  
  
It was totally insane of course, she berated herself. It probably was due to   
the fact that she had to 'spend' time with the, she had to admit, very good   
looking man instead of doing it quickly and move on to her next step: live.  
  
Yes, she tried to reassured herself, it 'was' that.  
  
She finally turned around, her blaster at the ready; Skywalker was slowly   
getting ready to go, checking his droid's safety.  
  
"Ready?" he asked her nicely.  
  
"Get moving," she snapped in return, settling her own backpack and equipment on   
her back.  
  
She didn't trust him with those, she reminded herself when her ankle resumed   
complaining against her bad treatment. Hence, she once again ignored it as she   
followed her prisoner away from their nightly camping site.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
Some time later, and three dead vornsks later, Luke trudged onward in front of   
Jade. While the previous day had been relatively easy as far as Artoo's   
survival went, the young Jedi was beginning to appreciate the true weight of his   
metallic friend.  
  
Even though he was in good shape, the effort of dragging the droid all over the   
forest was beginning to affect him. His arms and legs were slowly singing with   
growing intensity at the continued efforts. Sweat was already pouring down his   
face and back, and his breath was beginning to turn ragged.  
  
Still, his captor pushed him onward, not allowing him respite unless they were   
attacked and that she took a moment to double-check their surroundings.  
  
Artoo suddenly squealed again; Luke let go of the handles and dropped to the   
ground, covering his head with his hands.  
  
A shot later, it was over.  
  
"You really are the popular guy nowadays," the young woman sneered at him,   
walking closer to him while he slowly pushed himself back to his feet.  
  
"Don't believe everything the media say," he retorted tiredly, resorting to   
humor to slightly lighten his own mood.  
  
He expected her to shoot something sarcastic or caustic at him, but instead, she   
remained silent. When he gazed at her, he noticed how her eyes were once again   
hard yet softening thanks to confusion.  
  
Now what had he said?, he wondered while he took a short breather. Artoo seemed   
to share his worry; he slightly tilted himself in the travois until he could see   
him.  
  
"You know," he told his metallic friend while he bent down to inspect him.   
"You're getting pretty resistant to repeated falls."  
  
Artoo didn't agree with him; he whistled an indignant raspberry.  
  
"I know, sorry," Luke smiled at him while clearing grass from his collar/joint.  
  
He then refocused on the silent woman beside him; her eyes were not leaving him.  
  
"Is something wrong?" he finally asked her, checking around himself for the   
presence of another predator.  
  
"Course's clear now," she retorted after just a short hesitancy, then she   
silently incited him to get moving.  
  
"Just a second," he commented even as he began to unbutton his tunic.  
  
While he had been wearing blacks for almost six years now, he had never worn   
them to exercise, and now he knew exactly why he had never been tempted to try   
it. Despite their light fabric, his chosen Jedi uniform was pretty warm,   
especially when he was working out as much as he was at the moment. His tank   
top would be more than enough for now.  
  
He finally wedged his tunic under Artoo's head to cushion his next falls, then   
took a moment to stretch himself.  
  
"Okay, ready," he finally informed her while he took hold again of his charge,   
then he walked on.  
  
As he walked passed his captor, he never, ever noticed how she was eyeing him in   
a fashion which might have reminded him of the vorsnks eyes... except for one   
detail: she wouldn't kill him if she were to pounce on him.  
  
  
  
  
  
The Jedi walked past her, then continued onward, leaving her behind, her eyes   
still riveted on the tanned expanse of flesh which she could now see without any   
hindrance. He was even better sculpted than she had first surmised after the   
quick peek of the previous night.   
  
Her feet finally carried her after the Jedi, but her mind was not following yet.  
Instead, it was replaying over and over again the sight of the divesting young   
man. Every single motion had made his muscles shift, thus exposing themselves   
to her knowledgeable eyes.  
  
She had trained for years, had fought against enemies of every kind and had   
learnt to recognize signs of a truly strong individual versus one who wasn't   
developed the right way. The Jedi didn't show any sign that his muscles weren't   
trained to make use of all their abilities.  
  
They weren't bunchy like someone who had more volume then strength, nor were   
they small like someone who didn't train at all. Instead, they were lean,   
proportionate to his stature, and supple-looking. His shoulder blades also   
seemed developed although she couldn't be sure about those given his tank top.  
  
Still, she reflected as she followed him and took advantage of her point of view   
on his straining muscles, it was an unpleasant surprise. Not only did it mean   
that she would have her hands full against him if he ever attempted anything,   
but the fact that she could see him like this wasn't helping her to remain focus   
and detached.  
  
While she had managed to dampen her irritating surge of attraction toward the   
sleeping man the previous night, she was now hard-pressed to not admit, again,   
her attraction to him.  
  
He was an enemy, she reminded herself like a mantra. A target, someone to kill,   
a disposable nuisance. She didn't feel anything for him.  
  
Still, he seemed to tease her, she liked to watch him--- then her eyes traveled   
lower and she became aware that he didn't only have great arms. She briefly   
shut her eyes to block out the sight of his shifting backside as he continued to   
walk quietly in front of her.  
  
Facing her, the droid warbled slightly at this; she snapped her eyes open and   
glared at it, silently threatening it from ever informing Skywalker about this.  
  
The robot slightly rotated its head as if in understanding.  
  
They walked onward.  
  
As she forced herself to focus on anything else but the temptation who was under   
her responsibility, her eyes rested on the sky above them.  
  
Between the morning and Skywalker's little striptease, it had turned gray until   
there was no doubt in her mind that it would---  
  
As if on cue, a tropical rain suddenly assailed them, instantly drenching them   
to the bone. It also diminished her radius of surveillance since their   
surroundings quickly became blurry and white.  
  
"What now?" Skywalker asked her over the sound of the falling rain.  
  
"We continue," she answered him, walking all the way up to his side until her   
weapon was wedged against his hips. "Nice and easy, Jedi."  
  
"Always," he sighed, refocusing on the trek ahead of them.  
  
Mara however had eyes only for his very close flesh which seemed even more   
tempting now that it was glistening under the water.  
  
She forced herself to refocus on her mission.  
  
  
  
  
TBC in part 5: Waiting out the rain  
  
  
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)  
  
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the   
Sarlacc's throat without even being read.) 


	9. part 5: Waiting Out the Rain

At point blank range  
Part 5: Waiting out the rain  
By SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
02-02-02/06-02  
  
________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of Heir to the   
Empire belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with   
Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel,   
this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related   
to the events of Heir to the Empire also belong to T. Zhan. Please don't sue   
me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.  
See my homepage for more details.  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her   
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving me some of   
your precious time, my friend :)  
__________________  
  
  
  
  
While the rain was only making it slightly more difficult to progress forward on   
the now slippery ground, it's cold nature eventually got the better of the two   
young people and even Jade admitted defeat.  
  
They wouldn't reach Hylliard City the next day.  
  
A while later, they found a cave in which they decided to shelter themselves   
from the falling rain until it stopped.  
  
  
  
  
  
Once inside, Skywalker retrieved his shirt from under the droid and groaned when   
it too proved to be sodden wet.  
  
"Must be the price to pay for exposing yourself like this," she commented tartly   
while she herself wrung water out of her relatively long hair.   
  
She dimly reflected that they were not that long though; just a trifle more so   
than their usual shoulder length.  
  
"It was that or collapsing from the heat," the Jedi shrugged, then began to pull   
off his tank top. "Besides, Artoo needed cushioning."  
  
While she snorted in answer, she reflexively turned away from him to block out   
the sight of his more-than-taunting body. Did he have to strip completely again   
in front of her? she demanded to no one while she pretended to study their   
surroundings. Was he truly doing this to dry himself? Or was it because he   
knew what kind of effect he had on her?   
  
She herself sure knew how he affected her.   
  
"Artoo, do you still have that drying function?" the object of her thoughts   
asked from behind her.   
  
His droid warbled an answer, to which Skywalker answered: "No I won't be sick   
from the cold. It's not too bad. And you? Did the water affect you?"  
  
While she listened to his conversation with his droid, a droid for star's   
sake!... she begrudgingly admitted that the Jedi really seemed to be a kind   
man.  
  
Earlier today, she had seen it to be true when he had cared for his droid after   
three falls in a row--- Well it was also part of his plan to escape, she   
reminded herself harshly.  
  
It was only a ploy, it had to be... Like his kindness toward her was...  
  
However, the more she eavesdropped yet again on his private conversation with   
the robot, the more she 'had' to admit that keeping up that kind of charade for   
that long was impossible, even for Skywalker who was skilled at duping people.   
At the moment, he was truly behaving with the robot as he would with a true   
human being... How he would perhaps behave with her if she were to give him the   
chance... If she could trust him.  
  
While her prisoner dried himself, she remained near the entrance of the cave,   
watching the falling rain as it intensified instead of diminished; lost in her   
thoughts, she eventually became aware that she too was cold.  
  
However, she decided in disgust that she wasn't about to get rid of her clothes   
like the Jedi had done, and especially not in front of him. Bending down, she   
retrieved the heavy blanket that was still neatly folded at the bottom of her   
pack, then blindly threw it at the Jedi.  
  
It landed straight on his lap, surprising him.  
  
"Cover yourself with it," she ordered him, carefully turning back toward him;   
she riveted her eyes on his in order to keep herself in check.  
  
She was all too aware that he had also removed his pants for the moment; she   
didn't trust herself to not react to that kind of sight with him.  
  
"Thank you," he told her even as he wrapped himself under it. "but what about   
you?" he then asked solicitously.  
  
"Tell your droid to dry my clothes first," she answered coolly.  
  
"Tell..." the man frowned at her. "You can tell him yourself," he reassured her   
in his calm voice.  
  
"But he won't obey. Tell him," she repeated, stepping closer to the sitting,   
blanket-covered Jedi.  
  
"Artoo?" he asked the droid, glancing at his single eye in the same occasion,   
"do it, please?"  
  
The robot fluted something that sounded like agreement. Skywalker wordlessly   
confirmed her feeling with a nod of his head.  
  
"Now turn around," she instructed her prisoner.  
  
Once again, he didn't complain and gave her privacy.  
  
"And you," she warned the droid, fastening her glare on its single eye, "don't   
you dare keep this in memory or I will put you through 'two' memory wipes."  
  
Skywalker's droid barely answered her, but she understood that he would behave   
too.  
  
She hurried to take off her shirt and pants, then held them in front of the   
small source of heat.  
  
  
  
  
Sitting with his knees pulled against his chest, Luke patiently waited for his   
companion to finish with her clothes.   
  
"At least," he finally commented in the silence, "we won't need a bath for a   
while."  
  
"That's the least of my worries at the moment," she half-growled, half-snarled   
at him.  
  
Luke pondered her answer for a few seconds, then decided that it might be the   
opening he had been waiting for.  
  
"What is your main worry then?" he asked softly.   
  
For a moment, she sounded as if she were about to talk to him, to understand   
that he wasn't her enemy...  
  
"Survival," she finally answered shortly, coldly.  
  
That, Luke reflected glumly was as large an answer as he had ever heard one.  
  
In Mara's case, it could mean her immediate survival here in the forest, with   
him and Artoo in tow, or it could mean survival after what had happened to her   
because of him... and it could even go as far as how she would explain to Karrde   
that he had gotten away from them.  
  
"If it can make you feel better, Mara," he began seriously, "I will tell Karrde   
to blame everything on me. Had I not have my artificial hand, I wouldn't have   
escaped from the compound."  
  
The gasp of shock that followed his offer informed him that she hadn't been   
expecting this from him, but instead of mellowing her, it upset her once.  
  
"The great and diligent Jedi," she sneered while he heard her step closer to   
him; he suddenly felt the cold tip of her blaster against the nape of his neck.   
"Do me a favor, Skywalker, and just shut up," she growled menacingly.  
  
Aware that he was pushing her limits instead of helping her, he nodded silently   
and obeyed her new order. He patiently waited for her to finish with her   
clothes.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
While she let the little droid continue to dry her clothes, Mara's eyes drifted   
every so often toward her prisoner.  
  
Unlike the previous day when she had done so to make sure that he wouldn't   
escape, it wasn't her main purpose this time. Now she knew that he wouldn't try   
to escape her, both out of devotion for his droid, if anybody had ever heard of   
such a thing... but more and more, she was growing aware that he would also stay   
for her.  
  
She wanted to kill him, had made it more than obvious and clear to him, and   
yet... the man had just told her that he would take the blame for her if it ever   
came to that. As if they were friends instead of foes, she pouted in confusion.  
What was wrong with Skywalker anyway? More and more, she was beginning to doubt   
that he had ever even been a murderer.  
  
Perhaps, she reluctantly admitted, he had merely been a rebel fighter, against   
the Empire---- and he had to die for this, her grim self stated with finality,   
but perhaps..., her gentler self continued, he had only killed because of the   
war. He certainly didn't have the psychological profile of an assassin, she   
reflected seriously.  
  
She, on the other hand... did.  
  
Upon that thought, part of the answers she was looking for came to her.   
Skywalker really wasn't anything like she was. Instead, she finally understood   
that the Jedi had merely been on the wrong side of the war. But then, she dimly   
wondered, why had his file described him as a murderer? Why had her master...   
lied to her?--- No, her rational self instantly objected to the unfaithful   
thought. No, she was mistaken. The Emperor had never hidden the truth from   
her. He had told her everything, even about Vader's offer to Skywalker. He had   
trusted her, hadn't needed lies to ascertain her service, but... Skywalker...,   
she pondered with an increasing certitude that was going against even her   
deepest training,... Skywalker wasn't a killer.  
  
If he were, she thought seriously, calling to mind every memory of killers whom   
she had hunted down, he would have attacked her at least once, or would have at   
least insulted her, glared murderously at her, even attempted an escape, but   
no...  
  
Instead, he was trying to befriend her.  
  
Well, she wouldn't let him soften her more than he already had, she resolved   
while she checked the state of her clothes. And, she added in contempt, he was   
crazy for not trying to escape. She was still going to kill him if only for his   
being the rebel who killed the Emperor. That in itself was an awful crime...  
  
At least, she thought so...  
  
  
  
  
  
While Mara silently shifted from one foot to another as her clothes dried, Luke   
patiently waited for her instructions; he used the silence to ponder his   
attitude toward his companion.  
  
More and more, he was beginning to wonder if the lack of Force around him was   
also affecting his judgment or if he could still trust it. Up to now, he had   
trusted Mara and had even attempted to open a contact with her, no matter how   
often she had repeated to him that she wanted to kill him. Was his naivete   
overtaking his judgment yet again, he worried slightly, drawing him into another   
predicament which would be far worse than anything he had ever gotten into as a   
youth?  
  
After all, he then reflected wryly, he had never found himself at point blank   
range of a self-appointed assassin, and a very deadly one at that.  
  
Was he too mesmerized by her captivating beauty that he was failing to see her   
for what she truly was? Or could he still feel the remnants of a guidance in   
the Force and could he trust it? Unless, he conceded, it was just his own ethic   
that was guiding him; he knew that she needed help, and as thus, he couldn't   
turn his back on her. He was responsible for her predicament; it was his duty   
to help her out of it, at least as much as he could.  
  
The rest, he surmised, would be in Mara's hands... just as his father's final   
decision had been in his hands, along with his very own life...  
  
His father.  
  
Again.  
  
He hadn't thought as often about as his father as he had for the past two days.  
At least, not in quite a while, he sighed sadly. Was Anakin/Vader somehow   
related to Mara? he wondered yet again. Could Mara be----  
  
A possibility suddenly came to his mind; he was hard pressed to not turn around   
and gaze at the young woman to evaluate the worth of his new idea. Could Mara   
be one of his father's agents? Or even... lovers?... although he conceded that   
he had never heard that his father had ever had concubines like the Emperor did.   
An agent then?   
  
Well that would sure explain her knowledge of lightsabers.   
  
However, it still didn't seem right.  
  
His father hadn't been known for his use of assassins, only of spies and Mara   
was definitely an ex-assassin. In fact, she was like Guri as far as her   
abilities went. So who else could have sent an assassin after him?, he wondered   
seriously. Xizor? Perhaps, but then the lightsaber theory failed the test, so   
it wasn't the Falleen prince either.  
  
"Your turn," Mara's voice suddenly interrupted his train of thoughts.  
  
He realized that she was already dressed up and walking away from him. When he   
turned around, his first instinct was to gaze at her retreating figure. Who did   
she use to be?, he asked silently, then threw a gaze at the nearby droid. Artoo   
warbled something which 'sounded' to him like a vocal shrug of shoulders.  
  
Right, he might never know, he admitted as he picked up his damp pants and   
resumed his drying operation.  
  
Outside, the pouring rain began to dwindle in intensity.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
Once the rain stopped, they resumed their trek.  
  
While they hadn't been attacked at all during the rainstorm, the vornsks seemed   
to multiply their efforts to get Luke now that the storm was over.  
  
Given the muddy nature of the ground, Luke only crouched low instead of throwing   
himself on the ground; Mara nailed all the vornsks, and even dealt with a few of   
them with his lightsaber when the beasts attacked while their trio was faced by   
tangled vines.  
  
The more Luke saw her use his lightsaber, and the more his theory about his   
father began to make sense. She knew more than basic techniques; she seemed to   
have an almost complete training with the lightsaber.   
  
More than once, he felt the urge to ask her where she had learnt to use the   
weapon, but every time, he bit his tongue. Whether he could help her or not, he   
had decided to not pressure her anymore in any way.  
  
Instead, he remained silent and followed her instructions.  
  
  
  
  
By mid-afternoon, the warm sun and humidity had blanketed the whole forest in a   
thick fog which shortened their radius of sight. Mara kept closer to him, both   
his lightsaber and her blaster ready to save his life.  
  
Thanks to Artoo's early warning, she maintained her expert defense without ever   
risking Luke's safety. However, he himself wished for the fog to lift as soon   
as possible. He trusted his companion, but his tiredness was also growing and   
he was beginning to be fed up to be the target of all the predatory creatures of   
the area.  
  
  
  
  
Unbeknown to him, Mara was also growing tired of their little game of   
hunted/hunter, but she never said anything. Instead, they both trudged on until   
they reached the edge of one of the warm sources of the forest; they had no   
choice but to follow its littoral.   
  
While she followed her prisoner, she reflected that they should be a little   
safer now. She knew that no animal liked that kind of water because of its hot   
temperature as well as its resulting, tangy, unsavory taste. However, she also   
knew better than to lower her guard.  
  
After a second day of shooting the beasts off Skywalker's path, she was almost   
certain that the vornsks were hunting only for the Jedi, as if attracted by his   
Force energies. Strange, she reflected seriously as she locked her gaze on the   
back of the straining Jedi. He was cut off from the Force here, so, how would   
the vornsks feel his presence... unless she had yet another discovery to make   
about those wild creatures. Well, she smiled slightly to herself, it at least   
explained how the ysalamiri had come to be.  
  
"Were we in any other circumstances," her prisoner commented in the silence, "I   
sure wouldn't turn down taking advantage of this water."  
  
She couldn't help but roll her eyes at his comment about bathing yet again.   
"You really are a vain person, Skywalker," she sneered at him even as she threw   
a short glance at the nearby expanse of water. "It being clean the only thing   
you can think about... or do you want to take your chance with the river?" she   
suddenly challenged him as she understood that he was planning something this   
time.  
  
While the Jedi barely sighed and shook his head at her first answer, he froze   
completely and turned toward her upon hearing her second theory.   
  
"And leave Artoo to you?" he defied back, really glaring at her for the first   
time since she had 'met' him. She meant to retort to this, but he didn't let   
her insult him again. Instead, he locked his intense gaze with her eyes; it   
literally pinned her to her spot with the emotions that were swirling in them:   
frustration, worry for the droid's well-being, honesty... "I wouldn't be able to   
forgive myself if I did that," he finally stated seriously.  
  
While she reflexively glared at him in distrust, her thoughts once again came to   
a halt.  
  
That care for the droid... Either he was a fool, she reflected confusedly, or...   
he was truthful about that. Who had ever heard about anyone caring about a   
droid, except perhaps for pilots who had spent a lot of time alone with the   
machine...  
  
Like Skywalker had, she conceded while memories of his few conversations with   
the robot came back to her.  
  
"Besides," the man added, his eyes softening slightly yet became no less   
impressive. "Artoo being here or not, you could trust me, Mara,"   
  
That care...  
  
Unable to think of a way to react to his obvious offer of trusting him, Mara   
reacted the only way she knew: she brought her blaster to bear straight between   
his eyes once again.  
  
"I. Do not. Trust. Anyone, Jedi," she snarled hatefully, her voice a low growl   
which put a strain on each word she said.  
  
"Except the one person who hurt you besides me," the annoying man commented   
softly, his eyes boring straight into hers.  
  
Upon hearing him speak this way about her master, she took a step closer and   
physically pushed the tip of her blaster between the eyes of her prisoner.  
  
"Shut. Up," she hissed vehemently even as her finger pulled slightly back on the   
trigger... yet she was still unable to pull it completely.  
  
The hated Jedi was right.  
  
  
  
  
  
While Luke watched the ongoing fight of his companion as it raged once again   
inside of her, he dimly wondered why he had said what he had just said. How had   
he known that someone beside him had hurt her... that it would generate this   
much confusion in her.   
  
One thing was sure, he understood: the woman was quite temperamental, kind of   
like his father, he thought more seriously.  
  
He hadn't exactly known him very well, he conceded as he remained still, his   
eyes never leaving Mara's, but what little he did know allowed him to know that   
his father's temper was why he had turned to the Dark Side. He himself had had   
most unpleasant encounters with him before he had finally managed to break   
through to him, on Endor. During those encounters, he had learnt to detect   
signs of aggressive, painful or nasty attacks coming in. They had only come   
whenever he had tested his temper... As it was with Mara.  
  
Was she----  
  
Even as Artoo shrilled as loudly as he could in warning, both he and Mara   
abandoned their inner stalemates and looked up just in time to spot the pouncing   
figure of yet another Vornsk. The woman quickly shifted her aim away from his   
head and fired at the incoming beast.  
  
As always, Mara's aim was deadly and accurate, but since the beast had already   
lunged down toward them, its being dead didn't stop its fall. Too late, Luke   
realized that he couldn't avoid the impact this time; his actual position and   
Artoo's closeness was delaying his ducking from a few, precious seconds which he   
simply didn't have.  
  
"Skywalker!" Mara warned him--- but it was already too late.  
  
The dead weight of the animal slammed hard into Luke's half-crouched figure and   
flung them both into the slightly away, knee-deep waters of the nearby river.  
  
Thanks to the strength of the double impact, Luke wasn't aware of anything   
anymore.  
  
  
  
  
Mara, who had meant to shove the Jedi down, stopped her lunge just in time to   
witness the collision between the half-crouched Jedi, his droid and the vornsk;   
her prisoner fell head-first into the far water where he disappeared under the   
dead weight of its would-be predator.  
  
For a brief moment, she remained frozen, unable to think of anything, not even   
the frantic warbling of the fallen, dangerously-tipped-toward-the-water droid.  
  
Skywalker was about to die.  
  
If he didn't break the surface soon, he would drown... and she would be free, at   
last. No more nightmares, no more voices and harsh commands, only her own mind   
and thoughts thanks to the death of this simple... kind,... unlike-anyone-she-  
had-ever-met man, she slowly admitted----   
  
He was drowning!, both her mind and his droid seemed to wail in anguish.  
  
Forgetting the fact that she was fully clothed, or even the fact that she had   
vowed to kill the Jedi, she dropped her useless blaster and jumped as far as she   
could in the water, wadded closer and shoved the dead animal from the Jedi's   
back. She then submerged herself until she could get a good grip on the Jedi's   
tunic, and straightened herself, swiftly pulling the man from under the water   
and the still remaining weight of the dead predator.  
  
The moment they broke the surface, Skywalker coughed to catch his breath.  
  
"Thanks," he half-whispered between two coughs.  
  
"It's just because I want to kill you myself, Jedi," she grunted as she lugged   
his dead weight toward the closest bank of the river.  
  
However, deep down, she was growing more and more aware that something else had   
made her rescue him: the Jedi was slowly getting through to her; she could feel   
now that his personality wasn't a ploy to escape death.  
  
Instead, it was who he was... but was it possible? her wary self asked while she   
unceremoniously ditched the recovering man on the grassy/sandy bank. Could   
someone be as nice as Skywalker seemed to be?   
  
No, she tried to convince herself.  
  
"We have to get moving again; the river will intensify the smell of the corpse   
and the stench will attract a whole bunch of other visitors," she commented even   
as she retrieved her blaster and checked around themselves for danger.  
  
Nearby, the Jedi continued to cough weakly.  
  
"Why didn't you try to push it off of you?" she asked him in annoyance once she   
was sure that the area was clear for the moment. "Were you that afraid of the   
water?" she continued, bending over him and taking hold of his shoulder to pull   
him to a sitting position.  
  
Her prisoner didn't resist her; he coughed again, then weakly shook his hair out   
of his closed eyes.   
  
"Couldn't... strain."   
  
She meant to tease him meanly about his being tired after their light   
exercise... when it slowly dawned on her that his lack of resistance wasn't due   
to a weakness. The man was still barely conscious.  
  
"It got you well, didn't it?" she asked him while she quickly checked him for   
head injuries.  
  
He barely nodded even as he tried yet again to regain consciousness.   
  
"Well, Jedi, no time to nap. We must move quickly," she commented coolly, then   
set her blaster on hard sting and shot him.  
  
His eyes flew open in shock; she smirked meanly at him.  
  
"Owww, was that necessary?" he complained while he reflexively brought his hand   
up and rubbed his chest to alleviate the remaining sting.  
  
"Depends if you want to be something's next meal or not, Jedi," she retorted   
coolly, then studied their option.  
  
They had to get away from there and fast, but fast and carrying the droid didn't   
match together. She gazed at the recovering, dripping wet man, then at his   
robot--- and made her decision.  
  
She snatched a vine from the nearby tree and swiftly pulled the Jedi's hands in   
front of him before tying them up. Skywalker didn't exactly resist her, but he   
threw a worried look at his droid.  
  
"What about Artoo? I can't carry him like this," he pointed out seriously.  
  
"He'll follow us," she retorted while she straightened. "Right, short stuff?"   
she asked the robot as she gathered their packs.  
  
The droid, which had righted itself while she had been busy with its master,   
answered her with what sounded like an indignant raspberry before it rolled   
closer to the Jedi. She herself came back beside the Jedi and pulled him up to   
his feet.  
  
"Now get going," she ordered him.  
  
Behind them, the droid followed them as fast as it could, using small mechanical   
arms to clear its travois' sides from the ground.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Some ten meters ahead of Artoo, Luke and Mara walked onward, looking for a place   
to settle their camp for the quickly settling night. However, they were both   
aware that they had to clear the close-by radius of their latest victim if they   
wanted to be relatively safe from more predators.  
  
While he tried to pierce the gloom of the forest at twilight, Luke brought his   
tied hands to his chest where Mara had shot him. It still hurt a lot.  
  
"You know," he commented in the silence, "I'm grateful that you chose to save my   
life, but the sting shot wasn't necessary."  
  
"Would you have preferred it to be a real shot?" his companion retorted meanly   
from beside him.  
  
Luke answered with a sigh of slight annoyance.   
  
Did she always have to play the tough girl, he wondered. Sure, he could   
understand how it had probably been compulsory for her former job, but now...   
was it a mask? Or was it who she truly was?  
  
Somehow, he 'knew' that it was a mask. She seemed too unhappy to have chosen a   
mood such as this.  
  
"I thought so," she commented roughly, then shortly flicked her lightrod on to   
check their surroundings.  
  
"There!" he indicated, pointing to what he could detect on their right but ahead   
of them. "Looks like a clearing of some sort."  
  
  
  
  
Mara gazed in the direction that the Jedi was indicating, squinted slightly,   
then she saw what he meant... It indeed looked like a good place to send their   
receiving antenna up before resting for the night.  
  
"All right, your pick, Jedi," she commented dryly before she urged him onward   
with a jab of her blaster against his back even as she tried to ignore the   
growing coldness of her yet again sodden clothes.  
  
"A simple instruction would have sufficed," he grunted in slight annoyance, but   
obeyed her without any other prompting.  
  
"And a please to top it?" she offered coolly while she scanned their   
surroundings for moving shadows.  
  
"Never hurt anyone," he commented lightly.  
  
"Dream on, Skywalker," she growled at him. "Vornsks will fly before I become   
friend with you."  
  
"Yet you saved my life back there... and all day long," he added as if in   
afterthought.  
  
He should have kept that thought for himself though. The moment that her brain   
registered his words, she stepped up to his side, hooked her arm around his neck   
and wedged her blaster in his jaw while forcing him off balance, then she   
squeezed his neck as strongly as she could against her ribcage as if meaning to   
strangle him.  
  
"Just get one thing straight, Jedi," she spat at his close-by, suddenly worried   
features. "The only reason why you're still alive is because I will not let   
anyone deprive me from the pleasure of killing you. Am I clear on that?" she   
asked vehemently.  
  
No more smart retort answered her.  
  
"Am I clear?" she asked again, tightening her arm around the Jedi's neck and   
wishing against wish that she could see his horrified features just before she   
pulled the trigger---  
  
"I'm so sorry, Mara," he finally answered her softly, earnestly.  
  
He caught her completely off guard once again. She angrily let go of him, then   
refrained herself from hurting him. She had enough to bear up with him without   
having to bear up with an injured Skywalker.  
  
"Move," she spat, "and shut up," she warned him when he opened his mouth to   
answer her.  
  
Despite the surrounding darkness, she saw him nod in obedience, then he turned   
his back to her and headed toward the general direction of their chosen night   
camp.  
  
The most frustrating thing, she thought as she followed him, was that he was   
right once again. She 'had' saved his life more times than she could count.   
And she 'had' chosen to let him live tonight. Even a moment ago, she hadn't   
been able to kill him even though the temptation had been there.  
  
Just much dimmer than it had ever been since she had captured him.  
  
And then, he had had to apologize to her. What was his game? she wanted to   
shout at him. What was he trying to achieve if not to escape from her? Did he   
mean to torment her as revenge for her capturing him? For a brief moment, she   
believed so, but the thought was quicksilver and gone before she could really   
grasp it. Instead, his latest offer of trust came back foremost in her mind.  
  
Trust...  
  
Who would offer this to someone who wanted to kill him?... What was Skywalker   
hiding?, she wondered for the hundredth time since meeting him for real. There   
was undoubtedly more to Skywalker than met the eye... and she was unfortunately   
faced with it now, unable to tell from where his attacks came, yet they came all   
the same.  
  
And they confused her... a lot.  
  
In fact, they distracted her so much that her sole remaining stable point in her   
life was once again her master's order.  
  
'You will kill Luke Skywalker.'  
  
If only she could make her body obey it, she sighed to herself in defeat.  
  
  
  
  
While Mara tried to fight against the truth, Luke tried to uncover it.  
  
When she had been holding him against her, he had realized something about his   
companion. Despite her gruff exterior, she really had a heart; she just didn't   
want to acknowledge its existence even though it was beating in her chest while   
living in her mind.  
  
Had she been heartless... he wouldn't be alive anymore, he reflected once again   
seriously. While he had been underwater, he hadn't been aware of much except   
that he couldn't hold his breath for much longer, and that he couldn't expect   
any help except from Artoo which wouldn't be able to save him in time.  
  
Then, just when the void of death had been ready to snatch his last breath, she   
had come out of nowhere and pulled him out of the water, allowing him to live   
on.  
  
Much like how his father had saved him in extremis from the Emperor, he thought   
seriously. However, unlike his father, Mara hadn't had to give her life to save   
his and they were now both alive to figure out why she had done what she had.  
  
As he should have expected though, the woman was obviously less than interested   
to examine this fact which now stood between them. Something powerful was   
keeping her attached to the belief that she had to kill him, but what was it? he   
wondered yet again. He could feel that when he would pierce the mystery of her   
past, everything would become clear and he would be able to help her... or at   
least make it up to her for what he had done to her, but preferably without   
having to die, he thought forlornly.  
  
They finally reached the place that he had spotted.  
  
And not too soon, he reflected while he tried to shift his tightly bounded   
wrists; the vines were really beginning to cut into his skin while his clothes   
were slowly freezing him.  
  
  
  
  
Mara swept her luma all over the place. It would be as good a place as any to   
spend the night except for one, most welcome advantage; they were still close to   
the warm source.   
  
If Skywalker deigned turn off whatever he was broadcasting to the vornsks, they   
wouldn't have any unwanted visitors.  
  
"Sit down," she ordered her prisoner while she herself dropped her packs and   
stretched her shoulders.  
  
"Would it be too much to ask that you free my hands now?" he asked her   
seriously, turning toward her instead of obeying her.  
  
Even though she couldn't see his eyes thanks to the surrounding gloom, she knew   
exactly where they were. She glared at him, just in case he could see her.  
  
"Why? I kinda like you in bonds," she commented meanly.  
  
"Then at least slacken them," he retorted in the same fashion, surprising her   
with both his lack of reaction to her allusion as well as his willingness to let   
her tie him up again if that was what she wanted.  
  
For a moment, she debated whether to do just that, then her brain woke up and   
she became wary of a trap. Why would anyone want to be tied up unless it served   
their purpose? Nice or not, Skywalker wasn't an idiot. She knew that now.  
  
Making her decision, she pulled out her vibroblade and swiftly slashed at his   
bonds; the Jedi reflexively jumped away to avoid being hurt by her wide thrust.   
Upon seeing this, an image of herself testing the Jedi's skills against a   
vibroblade coalesced in her mind, but she didn't allow it to become reality.  
  
Even though he hadn't tried to escape her up to now, she knew better than to   
give him a reason to try it, and attacking him would be a good push in that   
direction.  
  
Reluctantly, she turned off her weapon and stashed it back in her utility belt.  
  
"Thanks," the other told her as he rubbed his left wrist.  
  
"Shut up," she snapped curtly. "Now sit down and prepare the balloon."  
  
Skywalker didn't say anything and sat down as he was told. Meanwhile, she   
herself undid their night equipment and set the glowlamp on its lowest setting.  
  
By the time the droid finally caught up with them, they were all set for another   
night in the wild forest of Myrkr.  
  
  
  
TBC in part 6: A nice man?  
  
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)  
  
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the   
Sarlacc's throat without even being read.) 


	10. part 6: A nice man

At point blank range  
Part 6: A nice man?  
By SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
02-02-02/06-02  
  
________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of Heir to the Empire belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel, this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related to the events of Heir to the Empire also belong to T. Zhan. Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.  
See my homepage for more details.  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving me some of your precious time, my friend :)  
__________________  
  
  
  
  
  
After another disappointing check with the X-wing, Mara and Luke once again took turns to dry themselves with the help of Artoo, who didn't complain. He was too glad to be once again with his master and friend.   
  
Once the humans were done, he positioned himself near the young Jedi, determinate to not let another vornsk get to him. Unlike the previous night, the young man didn't talk with his human companion. He reflected that it was a wise decision considering the strange temper of the strange woman.  
  
  
  
  
  
Even without the Force, Luke could feel that Mara was extremely upset at him; his near miss with the vibroblade had convinced him to not test her patience tonight. Still, he reflected while he rolled on his side and turned his back to her, he 'knew' that she wasn't who she was pretending to be with him.  
  
When she had held him against her chest, he had felt the intense dilemma that was undoubtedly still raging inside of her. Her clenching and unclenching muscles had more than sufficed to betray her indecision concerning him; her fast heartbeat had also confirmed her great unease with her 'mission'.   
  
However, he knew that he couldn't do anything to influence her; the fight, which came from her true self struggling to show itself, had to be settled from inside as well. However, he wished he could help her... that he could take her pains away from her beautiful eyes.  
  
Whoever had trained her, he reflected sadly, had been thorough with her emotions, but, he smiled slightly at the memory of her spontaneous rescue in the river, he hadn't killed her compassion completely. On the other hand, it was so well buried that he doubted that Mara was even aware of its presence, especially considering the comment she had made when he had tried to make her face her actions.  
  
He went to sleep on the renewed hope that he could, somehow, help her free herself from her cool mask.  
  
  
  
  
A few feet away from the slumbering Jedi, Mara Jade huddled under her survival blanket, keeping an eye on her prisoner.  
  
Her annoying, confusing prisoner, she added in resent even as she swallowed a new stim pill. Why had she saved his life again?, she asked herself in dismay. She could have left him there, savor the last minutes which he had left to live, then pull his lifeless body from the water and enjoy her victory, at last, but instead... She had jumped after him in the water and had saved him.  
  
He was, she realized, the first being, well, second one, she amended as memories of her farmboy returned to her; she dismissed them back to the very back of her mind. Anyway, she had saved her enemy. Ever since that misadventure on Tatooine, she had never used her skills and strength again to save a life, only to take one.  
  
It was most unsettling for the ex-assassin, who shoved her bittersweet memories once again to the back of her mind because she could even conjure up an image of the boy.   
  
Whatever Skywalker was doing to her, he didn't need any softening from her part to help him. In fact, it was obviously taking root, challenging everything she had ever believed in and lived by... and turning her into someone she didn't know at all. After Tatooine, again---- but before she had met the Jedi, she had never cared about anyone or anything, except the Emperor... and perhaps Karrde, she conceded reluctantly, tiredly, but it was only because he represented the possibility of a new, interesting life...  
  
And then, there was Skywalker. Whether she accepted it or not, she 'had' cared about her prisoner a few hours ago. Had she not cared, he wouldn't be with her anymore and the droid would be in pieces.   
  
Skywalker's kindness was rubbing off on her, she sneered in disgust, and the most enraging thing was that one: she didn't seem able to resist him, thanks to her most untimely memories of her farmboy, and two: she was believing in the Jedi's 'act.' She dimly wondered if it would be the same if they were not cut off from the Force. Would she be able to resist him then? Or would she still fall for the person she hadn't expected to find in her well-known prey? A nice man who reminded her somewhat of... She quickly interrupted her thoughts again before it was too late; she refocused on her current subject: Skywalker.  
  
She knew that she hadn't mistaken the man for another one; Skywalker had never denied his identity, so he 'was' the famous, hated Jedi. However, the more she was spending time with him, and the less she could convince herself that he was the man of her old files...   
  
Not a single data fit with what she could now see in the man. Even worse, the theory of his having a change of heart was growing more and more impossible given what she had sometimes heard from him when he had been talking with the droid.  
  
She had discovered that the two of them had been together during the Rebellion. Throughout their current trek, they had sometimes exchanged comments about it compared to the past; during such moments, she had always found herself gaping at the retelling of events which fit more those... well of a naive kid than of a cold murderer, she reluctantly admitted at the yet again surfacing thought of her farmboy... As if... she began hesitantly, she had been misl----  
  
Even as the thought of being misleaded, or being lied to, formed in her mind, she slammed the door on those thoughts in frustration. This was getting her nowhere, she fumed even as she refocused on her external surroundings and her prisoners... and the gentle, appealing sound of the nearby warm-watered river.  
  
The effect of that sound on her was instantaneous. She was tired, sore from their long walk and her lack of sleep... Nothing like a bath to relax, she reflected even as she laid her eyes on her human prisoner.  
  
He was already asleep. Could she trust him to remain asleep?, she wondered---then berated herself for even considering the question. She flicked her blaster setting from kill to stun--- and shot the Jedi.  
  
His body slightly slumped on itself as the bolt's effects settled in, but otherwise, he didn't react; beside him, the droid was furious--- It fell silent when she aimed at it.  
  
"Quiet," she told him warningly. "If you don't want your dear master to be hurt, don't move from your there."  
  
The droid abided by her order; she stashed her weapon in her belt, proceeded to keep it from leaving its location, then grabbed hold of the Jedi's wrists and pulled him closer to the river where a big-rooted tree stood near a sandy bank. From there, she estimated that she would be able to keep a good eye on him while enjoying herself for a while.  
  
As she strained against the Jedi's dead weight, she conceded that he was truly more muscled than he looked; in fact, he was quite heavy for someone of his stature. Once beside the tree, she pulled vines from the nearby branches, then proceeded to tie the Jedi's wrists and feet to a root which was slightly turned away from the river; he would thus be blocked from seeing her while she would see him from her chosen spot in the river.   
  
She tied his hands to the root and above his head---- when she found herself staring at his unconscious features from a very close point of view.   
  
The first thing she noticed was that despite his age, he looked like a fresh kid... a handsome one, she added as she totally abandoned her activities to study Skywalker's features more intently. There was something about them, she frowned even as she brought her lamp closer to diminish the veil of the shadows on them. Somehow, she reflected, she had seen those features before and they hadn't been on a holo of her data file, nor was her feeling related to her brief glimpse of him at Jabba's palace. Then all of a sudden it clicked as her repressed memory leaped forward yet again.   
  
Tatooine! she gaped at the unconscious man. No, it was impossible, she would recognize the other anywhere.   
  
She was absolutely convinced that Skywalker, although coming from Tatooine, couldn't be the unknown boy. Even if they shared some features, she remembered very clearly that the boy hadn't been Force-sensitive while she was willing to bet her future ship that Skywalker's undeniable Force presence had been detectable even when he had been younger. However, she conceded even as she hesitantly took hold of his face in her hands and held it up for closer scrutiny, he sure shared the other's unforgettable blue eyes and boyishness... which still held her heart captive, but it was over now, she reminded herself. It had been over since she had left the planet, abandoning the boy to his life while she had returned to hers.   
  
No, she decided even as she let go of the Jedi's chin, Skywalker wasn't the other. His hair was much darker anyway, and he didn't look like the other. He just vaguely reminded her of him because of his eyes and undeniable interesting features. Other than that, he was a perfect stranger... a nice man---  
  
Suddenly irritated by the Jedi's influence on her thoughts, she drew away from him with a growl, and finished to tightly bound his ankles to the root.   
  
Now she really needed to cool off, she reflected even as she stepped away from her prisoner and out of the light. she began to take off her clothes, but not her wrist holster nor underwear.  
  
Behind her, the droid fluted a little comment, then locked its eye on its master.  
  
Mara ignored it; she stepped in the warm water and swam further in until she was immerged up to her shoulders.  
  
  
  
When Luke's senses returned to him, the first thing he became aware of was the stiffness in his back and arms. He was getting too old to sleep on the rough ground, he dimly groaned even as he forced himself awake.  
  
He moved to stretch his arms to relieve his cramps--- and met with a sturdy resistance. His eyes instantly flew open and darted up toward his hands; they were securely tied to a big root, and so were his ankles. He was trapped.  
  
When he failed to find Mara nearby, a sudden, unpleasant worry crept up his mind.  
  
Had Mara abandoned him to his fate after all? It didn't make much sense considering her adamant dedication to the fact that she wanted to have the privilege of killing him, but... considering her unpredictable nature, he conceded that anything was possible.  
  
A few meters away from him, Artoo noticed that he was awake and asked him if he were all right; Luke instantly surmised that the droid was somehow restrained away from him or else he would be beside him at the moment.   
  
What was going on?, he wondered even as he craned his neck to see in his back.  
Suddenly, a sound of moving water made him still in worry; slowly, he turned his head toward the source of the sound...   
  
He gaped at the ethereal sight that was slightly out of his line of sight as the woman swam right in his line of vision and stood up.  
  
Despite the shadows of the night, Mara's strong, lithe body was instantly, perfectly outlined by the white light of the full moon, giving him the impression that she was a Force spirit. He couldn't help but gaze in shock and rapture. Thanks to their frequently close contacts, he had known that she was athletic and well built, but he could now see that she was more than that.  
  
She was also a slight, finely-boned young woman when she wasn't assuming the stance of a tough assassin.   
  
She was beaut----  
  
An incoming shot from a blaster forced him to duck down; the bolt hit the tree a few centimeters above his hands; he winced as the hot splinters fell on his head and face.  
  
"Keep your head turned away, Jedi," she growled warningly, reminding him that he couldn't trust his eyes.  
  
The woman was beautiful 'and' deadly. Neither were an act.  
  
"Sorry," he answered while he kept his eyes on Artoo. "I wasn't sure if it were a new danger or not," he tried to explain while he heard her wade closer to the bank.  
  
  
  
  
"Just the usual danger, Jedi, don't worry," she answered him sarcastically even as she settled in the shallows; there, she crouched to remain under the level of the water.  
  
It was truly warm, soothing for her aching muscles and ankle; she was reluctant to get out just yet.  
  
"Actually," the Jedi answered her last remark, "I am relieved that it is you."  
  
Mara, who had been rubbing her sore ankle, stopped in mid-motion and stared at the Jedi's back. He was relieved to still be with her??? Even though she had tied him up during his sleep and that she had just voluntarily missed his head by a few centimeters only, he was not worried for his life???  
  
What was wrong with the man?, she gaped in disbelief. Nice or not, no one ever felt relieved by the presence of a close-by assassin, and especially one of her caliber. Sure, she admitted, she was an efficient protector at the moment, but the end would still be the same: she would kill him...  
  
If her finger cooperated this time.  
  
Aware that she had answered him by a silence that could betray her confused state of mind, she spoke up in the only fashion she felt comfortable with: tartly.  
  
"As if," she sneered at him. "Do me a favor, Skywalker," she then commented as she waded out of the knee-deep waters, "spare yourself the effort of befriending me."  
  
To her satisfaction, the man remained silent and nodded once, as if uncovered--.   
  
And that was it, she thought to herself with a sigh of deep relief; the Jedi was only trying to befriend her. He didn't really care about her; he was only motivated by his need to survive her.  
  
At last, she smiled meanly to him. She had pierced his secret; she wasn't vulnerable to it anymore.  
  
Or so she thought.  
  
  
  
  
Luke winced at her request, but he could only grant it to her.  
  
He didn't want to take the risk of stopping a blaster bolt tonight. However, he was surprised to feel genuine regret toward her attitude. The more he spent time with her, and the more he was growing interested in her, not just because of her mysterious past and her drive to kill him, but also because of what he could sometimes catch glimpses of.  
  
Especially when she was surprised by his comments. He never knew exactly what he said to shock her mute, but he did do something and his companion always seemed to soften during those. Like what had happened a few moments ago. He hadn't seen her, yet he had felt her shock all the same. Her long silence had slightly worried him, then when it had lasted even longer, he had conceded that he didn't know what to expect from the strange woman.  
  
Although he should have known that it wouldn't be kind.  
  
He had wanted to tell her that he wasn't exerting efforts to befriend her, that it was who and how he was, but he had known that she wouldn't like the answer.  
  
Instead, he had remained silent.  
  
Shuffling noises attracted his attention as the woman came out of the water to dried herself. Luke was hard-pressed to not talk to her once again. He was aware that it was a dangerous activity, but he liked to talk with her even if what he got in answer were barbs.  
  
"So I take it that you stunned me to drag me over here," he finally commented, unable to resist the silence anymore.  
  
"I barely restrained myself from killing you when I did," she answered coldly after a short pause.  
  
The pause, he reflected, which was betraying her inner debate, but about what?, he wondered.  
  
"Well, I'm glad you didn't," he answered earnestly, then added: "I'm sorry for invading your private moment by the way. It was an accident."  
  
  
  
  
For the second time in less than five minutes, Mara stood still, shocked by the Jedi's words. She had been the one to stun him and tie him up, she was the one responsible for the confusion, yet he was apologizing for his curiosity?  
  
For a moment, she dimly wondered if this was real or if she were, in fact, caught in an horrible nightmare from which she couldn't wake up. She pinched herself; it was real, as was the now undoubtedly unique man who was her prisoner--- but not his attitude, she tried to reinforce her resistance to his influence.   
  
It was just an attempt to sway her hand. He had killed the Emperor, had destroyed her life. He might have never been a cold murderer but he still deserved to die.  
  
And he would, in due time.  
  
With that, she made the decision to not talk to him anymore tonight; she put on her suit, then retrieved her blaster from the sand and aimed at the Jedi.  
  
"Get some sleep, Jedi, and mind my words: shut up," she warned him coldly, then shot his bonds.  
  
The man was instantly free; he yelped at the sudden heat that touched his hands. He briefly threw an annoyed glance at her, then rid himself of his bonds and stood up. He walked over to his droid's location and began to study what she had done to it.  
  
She herself settled by the tree that he had just left and kept watch over him all night long.  
  
Again.  
  
Unlike the previous night though, she didn't wonder about what had saved the Jedi's life when he had faced the Emperor; she instead wondered how she would continue to keep his attacks of kindness away.  
  
Now that she knew what they were, she resolved to not let them blind her anymore; she called up her anger and hatred at her predicament to fuel her hatred of the man... to whom she was slowly warming up despite her best efforts to not do so.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
The next day continued just like the previous one had ended: dodging vornsks and trudging through a forest which now seemed to be closing in on them. They had run into more vine-traps than they had seen for the past two days.  
  
While Mara studied yet another such dead-end, Luke wearily watched around them, wishing for the hundredth time since he had woken up on Myrkr that he had the Force to at least feel the nearby predators. Even though he knew that he was in 'good' hands with Mara, he was growing very tired of being a target, and the shorter sleep of the previous night wasn't helping him to control his worry, especially when they were trapped by---.  
  
He shifted uneasily as he heard a cracking sound nearby.  
  
"Just keep your shirt on," his companion commented from her position near the mass of vines. "This'll only take a minute."  
  
"You don't have to go for finesse, you know?" he answered her, dimly wondering what was keeping her from just cutting their path clear. "It's not like the lightsaber's running low on power," he pointed out seriously.  
  
Mara answered him with a technical detail he hadn't considered at all. Were he not very tired, he conceded that he might have also think about that, but then, he shrugged, perhaps not. He was nowhere near as competent as she was.  
  
Luke silently watched her as she studied the vines once again, then she finally turned on the weapon and cut them down.  
  
"That wasn't so hard, now was it?" she sneered at him as she returned his weapon to her belt.   
  
Luke tiredly shook his head in answer and was beginning to walk forward---- when Artoo squealed in warning. Perfectly aware of what it meant, he sighed in resignation even as he let go of his droid friend and dropped to the ground, covering his head with his hands.  
  
Yet another shot later, it was over once again. As he stood back to his feet, he reflected that he was really getting tired of this. He checked around himself, wary for another danger to literally spring out of the nearby foliage, then finally refocused on his companion.  
  
"I wish you'd change your mind about giving me back my lightsaber," he said, then checked on Artoo before moving to pick him up again. "You must be getting tired of shooting vornsks off me."  
  
He himself sure wouldn't complain when they would leave the forest.  
  
"What, you afraid I'm going to miss?" the woman snarled haughtily.  
  
Perfectly aware now that her coldness was just a mask, he didn't react to it; he just shook his head and commented that their predicament and her lack of sleep would eventually catch up with her too.  
  
After all, he himself 'had' gotten some sleep, yet he was positively exhausted from their long trek, especially from their previous day... and night. He could only imagine how she herself felt since she hadn't slept a wink, or so Artoo had told him.  
  
"You just worry about yourself," the temperamental woman answered him rudely, dismissing once again his attempts to make peace.   
  
They resumed their trek along their chosen path.  
  
"Between you and me, Artoo," he told the droid while he focused on pushing past his physical tiredness, "I think I'll never complain about Threepio's boring lectures ever again," he tried to joke with his friend. "They sure won't compare with this," he added tiredly. When Artoo commented that it was a dangerous bet, Luke retorted: "of course, you don't have to tell him that."  
  
Artoo warbled in amusement at his discomfiture--- then squealed in worry as the right handle of the travois slipped yet again from his right hand.   
  
"So who's getting tired now?" Mara instantly commented meanly.  
  
"It's just my hand," he explained while he picked up the handle once again.   
  
And, he added to himself, he now knew why his hand came with a dual battery. If one failed, the other could cover while it recharged itself off his body's energy fields.  
  
"Sure," his companion retorted in a tone that belied her lack of sympathy. "There's our hole," she then commented.  
  
Luke looked up; sure enough, the foliage was sparser and they could see the sky once again.   
  
Luke complied with her following orders, aware that once he would be done, he would be able to rest for a while. He righted Artoo in the middle of the clearing, then, after opening his information jack for Mara, returned to the edge of the clearing and sat up against a large tree.  
  
There, he laid his head against the bark, then closed his eyes--- and became aware that he had fallen asleep when he noticed that Mara had received a message from Karrde... or rather Threepio, he recognized. He opened his eyes and listened to the plan of his former captor.  
  
So Han was here, he realized in welcome hope. He wasn't alone in enemy territory anymore. He dimly wondered how his friend had gotten here, but for the moment, he considered that detail unimportant.   
  
His best friend was on the planet and aware of his predicament. He knew that he would be able to count on his help.  
  
When the message finished, he tried to convince Mara that their changing roles would save both of their lives.  
  
She didn't agree with him. Instead, she told him that they would find another way around.  
  
Luke nodded sleepily, then, reflecting that they would camp here for the night, allowed himself to drift out once again---- and was torn out of his sleep by Artoo's frantic warble of alarm.  
  
His eyes instantly riveted themselves to a fateful sight: a vornsk had already pinned Mara down, and she was unconscious.  
  
  
  
  
At first, Mara was barely aware of a heavy weight on her back, of the lancing needles in her shoulders. She wondered what was going on--- then she heard an horrible, monstrous sound which pulled her out of her daze---- and she remembered the circumstances of her losing consciousness.  
  
Even as she remembered the vorsnk, she gathered her strength, then swiftly rolled on her back and buried her claw-like hands in its neck, searching for its throat.  
  
It was somewhere nearby, she reflected desperately even as she tightened her grip. She had managed it once, it had to work again! However, she hadn't been hurt the last time; she was quickly growing aware that her actual injuries were seriously cutting into her regular strength.  
  
Atop of her, the beast growled and strained against her, intent to get a first bite of her. Even as she began to prepare herself for that untimely, unworthy death, wishing once again that she had killed Skywalker while she had the chance, she became aware that she wasn't alone anymore in her fight.  
  
Someone nearby was shouting and keeping the beast busy, then a hand flashed at her hip, taking hold of something there.   
  
Belatedly, she identified her helper as Skywalker himself, then she could only watch him in confusion as he drove the vornsk away from her. What was he--- She reflexively rolled away when the beast gathered its strength for another leap on her, but it underestimated the abilities of the Force-less Jedi.  
  
Its dead corpse thudded beside her--- and on her.   
  
While she wasn't a queasy person, this was more than even she could bear on herself. She quickly pushed herself out from under the corpse.  
  
"About time," she panted to the nearby Jedi. "What in blazes was that stupid game you were playing?" she scolded him.  
  
The Jedi took a step closer to her. "I didn't think you'd like your hands cut off if I missed," he explained even as he offered her his hand.  
  
For a brief moment, she pondered whether to trust him this one time--- then caught her thought and forced herself to her cool, usual self. She ignored his hand, then slowly rolled on her knees and hands before pushing herself back to her feet, trying hard to not buckle down once again thanks to her waning strengths and her growing shock. The vornsk's attack had really shaken her bad.   
  
However, she wasn't a beginner, she admonished herself. She had a job to do, and a prisoner to keep in line. Her hand went to her wrist-holster and pulled out her trustee pocket blaster; she turned back toward the Jedi.  
  
The moment that he saw her with her weapon, his eyes took on another expression; he had expected her to crumple, she realized. Well, wish away, she thought in professional pride.  
  
Even as he obeyed her instruction and dropped his weapon, he confronted her with what had just happened.  
  
She forced herself to not wince at his hurt expression. She stooped to retrieve the fallen weapon. "I figure that's my reward for keeping you alive for the past two days," she told him coldly... although she didn't feel cold about this, she realized.  
  
The Jedi had truly saved her life even though she wanted to kill him; it was even more confusing than her saving his life even though she wanted to kill him.  
What was wrong with her these days? she wondered with irritation.  
  
"Get over there and sit down," she ordered him even as she herself headed for the nearby survival kit... and the soothing balm that would take away the fire of her shoulder injuries.  
  
Unlike all the other times that she had ordered the Jedi around, he didn't instantly obey her; she glanced at him, ready to shoot something caustic--- when she noticed that he was eyeing his droid.  
  
"Do you mind if I look at Artoo first?" he asked her softly.  
  
That droid yet again, she sighed in annoyance to herself. The man was crazy to have befriended a robot, but, well, the said robot had helped him to save her...  
  
"Sure, go ahead," she finally nodded even as she turned her back to the Jedi and headed for her previous destination: the survival kit.   
  
She grunted slightly as she finally sat against the tree, then took a moment to close her eyes and keep herself from falling under the effects of her remaining adrenaline. It had been very close this time, she admitted to herself, then forced herself to do something to not think about the death she had barely escaped... thanks to the Jedi.  
  
  
  
TBC in part 7: Truth  
  
  
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)  
  
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the Sarlacc's throat without even being read.) 


	11. part 7: Truth

At point blank range  
Part 7: Truth  
By SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
02-02-02/06-02  
  
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Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of Heir to the Empire belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel, this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related to the events of Heir to the Empire also belong to T. Zhan. Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.  
See my homepage for more details.  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving me some of your precious time, my friend :)  
__________________  
  
  
  
  
  
As she waited for Skywalker to finish with the droid, Mara rummaged in the nearby survival kit and finally broke out the salve stick. She opened it, then slowly, carefully, brought it closer to her mauled right shoulder; just seeing the slashes made her wince despite herself.  
  
The beast certainly hadn't missed her, she realized, then conceded that she really couldn't have strangled it today like she had done with several vornsks during her exploration of the forest. Her injuries were serious enough to keep her from straining.  
  
Had she been alone, or had Skywalker not come to her help, she shamefully admitted that she wouldn't be alive to be angry at herself... and at him. Why had he rescued her? Her saving his life put aside, he could have killed the vornsk and run for it, or fight her while he had recovered his weapon, but no... he had stayed around to help her; he had not even defied her nor tried to overcome her. Instead, he had dropped his weapon without resistance, then had sighed in... what? she wondered uneasily.   
  
Annoyance at her aiming constantly at him? Tiredness of her considering him her enemy? Or was it even worse than that?..   
  
What if, she wondered in worry born from her tiredness, Skywalker was truly trying to be her friend? What if it wasn't a ploy?..  
  
Nonsense, her cooler, more alert self retorted in despise. A movement on her left caught her attention; she looked up just in time to see the Jedi sit against the tree that was right in front of her.  
  
"Well?" she asked, refocusing back on her injuries, which were now stinging thanks to the salve.  
  
"He's okay for now," the Jedi answered her, leaning back against his chosen tree.   
  
"I'm so glad to hear it," she scoffed at the thought of her worrying about a robot, then glanced at the number-one-droid-worrier around--- and refrained her next comment. She gazed longer at him, unsure if she had seen well or not, then the Jedi shifted slightly under her scrutiny; she saw that he indeed bore marks from a good hit from the vornsk's tail. "He got you good, didn't he?" she asked him with a very dim trace of warmth in her normally cool voice.  
  
The Jedi gingerly brought his hand to his face, then shrugged slightly. "I'll be all right," he commented.  
  
Instantly rebuffed by his own lack of opening, she berated herself for worrying about him and assumed her cooler attitude once again  
  
Terrific evening, she growled even as she grimaced at the sting of the salve on yet another mark. First, there had been her inability to save herself, then the humiliation of being saved by Skywalker, and now her involuntary worry about his injury only to find her unusual care almost sneered at!..  
  
If she weren't still weakened by her shock, she would shoot him right there and then for his insult. However, she conceded, the attack had left her in a secondary state; other than tending to herself, she couldn't imagine even walking on her feet for the moment.  
  
What a pathetic agent she had bec---- She suddenly snapped her eyes up and glared at the staring Jedi. "I said thanks, already. What do you want, a medal?" she snapped at him, suddenly considering more seriously taking a potshot at him.  
  
To her surprise, the Jedi didn't sigh, nor glared, nor reacted much in fact. Instead he spoke softly and told her that he was wondering about her.... She noticed that he had used the same tone that he used when he was talking with his robot.  
  
At first, she almost, almost made a move for her blaster at the thought that he was now comparing her, the Emperor's best and personal agent, to that tin can of his... then she gazed for a while a longer in his eyes and calmed down. Skywalker 'didn't' know who she used to be, she reminded herself. He didn't know 'how' he had ruined her life; at least she thought so now.   
  
"You happened to me," she finally commented bitterly, with heavy resent.   
  
The Jedi was stricken as he listened to her vision of the events.  
  
She couldn't help but sneer as her feeling of his not knowing about her confirmed itself, then she proceeded to tell him what he wanted to know... but She didn't tell him everything; that would be too easy. Instead, she led him onward, guiding his reflection while not providing him with any good answer.  
  
At first, Skywalker seemed to put pieces of her puzzle together, then he frowned. She surmised that he had hit a rock in his reasoning. Well, she smirked meanly in contempt, let him figure the rest. If he wanted to know the truth, then he might as well work for it.  
  
And he did, surprising her with his insight. Although pleased that he had figured out her agent front from what he had seen during their trek together, giving her a solid proof that she wasn't as bad an agent as she had the feeling to be these days, she also conceded that he was much, much more clever than she had first surmised. 'That' was not a pleasant surprise.  
  
"Very good. That vaunted Jedi insight, no doubt," she commented, trying to insult him although she knew that Jedi or no, his figuring out her secret didn't have anything to do with the Force. She dared him to find the rest by himself.  
  
For a moment, Skywalker continued to frown as he undoubtedly tried one theory after another, then his features lit up... almost like a child discovering a surprise, she reflected dimly.  
  
"Vader knew I'd go there to try and rescue Han, and he sent you to capture me," he commented in one breath.  
  
"Vader?" she spat in contempt. Of all the insults... "Don't make me laugh," she snarled at the Jedi, then told him exactly what she thought about 'Vader', then what her real mission had been.  
  
As she spoke, the Jedi's features blanched noticeably, as if in stark terror, something that she had yet to see in the man.   
  
"And you master," he all but whispered, "was the Emperor."  
  
"Yes," she hissed, "and you destroyed him."  
  
For a moment, Skywalker looked as if he were going to defend himself from this, but he didn't. Instead, he told her that the Emperor had tried to recruit him.  
She refuted his reasoning, then, pushed by her sudden need to speak about what she had lost with the man responsible for that loss, she revealed to him her whole secret: the life of the Emperor's Hand.  
  
To her disbelief, Skywalker seemed to understand what she had been through, and even asked her what had gone wrong in her mission at Jabba's. Seconds later, he even shocked her mute when he answered her as only a caring person would.  
  
While she tried to figure 'him' out, she noticed that he was still considering something. Well, she thought to herself, now he knew, so perhaps he would begin to fear her---  
  
"You would have succeeded," he commented briefly in the silence, locking his gentle with her pained ones.  
  
"I'm not asking for understanding or sympathy," she spat angrily at him as his friendly attitudes came true and clear to her. "You wanted to know, fine, now you know."  
  
'Now,' she added to herself, 'start acting like a regular prisoner.' That last comment had been from anyone but someone who was afraid for his life while with her. It wasn't nor---  
  
"So why are you here?" he asked again, his voice still gentle and soft.  
  
Suppressing a growl of frustration, she focused on her untended shoulder and resumed her tending. "What Empire?" she sneered. "It's dying, you know that as well as I do."  
  
"But while it's still there---" Skywalker began earnestly.  
  
"Who would I go to?" she asked as she whirled back toward him and pinned him with a sulfurous glare before reminding him that she had been a loner, only known from the Emperor.   
  
From there, their discussion became about what had happened to her during the following, horrible five years which she had spent in the arm-pits of the galaxy... Five years she had been trying to make some kind of living---  
  
She focused back on Skywalker's eyes, summoning her best cold glare to get her message across this time. "I worked hard to get where I am, Skywalker. You're not going to ruin it for me."  
  
The Jedi reassured her that he wasn't out on a vendetta against her; he only wanted to return to his friends.  
  
Just like she wanted to return to her former life, she reminded him before trying some philosophy comment about not always getting what one wanted.   
  
The young man agreed with her.  
  
For a moment, she felt as if he were mocking her once again, then understood that he had understood what she meant; he 'knew' that she would eventually kill him... or at least even the score with him. But first, she reminded herself, they needed to survive the imperial enclave in Hylliard City.  
  
She scooped up a tube of salve and tossed it at him, then instructed him to get some rest.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Hours later, in the darkest of the night, Mara fought harder than ever to not go to sleep. Unlike the previous night, there weren't any nearby river to keep her awake, and her body was still under the shock of the vorsnk's attack. Thank the gods, her shaking, which had begun when Skywalker had turned in for the night, was now over, but her mind was simply begging for sleep.   
  
However, more than ever, she knew that she couldn't sleep, not because of Skywalker's danger, but because of the forest's. Strange how her going after Skywalker had turned out, she tried to think to keep herself awake.   
  
Less than a week ago, the only thing that had saved his life had been Karrde's body, but now, she dimly admitted, she herself 'might', just might defend him with her own body. Oh, she conceded to herself, she still despised him and hated him for what he had done to her, but at the same time, it was in the past... and her present experience with him was weighting heavier and heavier in her scale of whether she would kill him or not.  
  
Tonight, it was leaning heavier on the not-killing-him side, but even if she didn't kill him, she couldn't not exact some kind of vengeance from him either. Returning him to the New Republic was out of question.  
  
So, she thought seriously, how could she make him pay for what he had done without killing him... nor physically hurting him, she conceded. At first, she hadn't paid much attention to her reaction to his fresh welt, but now that she had taken some time to analyze it, she knew that she couldn't cause him pain like that. She didn't know how it was possible, but seeing him injured had made her wince in worry.  
  
Of course, it was a most despiteful discovery and she wouldn't accept it, but the fact was still there. When she had tried to convince herself that she could 'at least' hurt the Jedi, she had not even been able to bring her hand to her knife before being assailed by questions which had, in the end, made her relent... just like when she had tried to pull the trigger.   
  
Fortunately for her that the Emperor was already dead, she sighed tiredly. Otherwise, she would sure be punished for such a weak attitude, but tried as she might, she simply couldn't make her body cooperate with her mind.  
Even worse, she admitted as she fastened her gaze on the Jedi's sleeping features, her mind was also beginning to betray her, working hard to convince her that the Jedi truly was a nice man...  
  
Well, she conceded even as she made her decision, he was unlike any man she had ever met or chased, not even her farmboy, and he certainly wasn't the cold murderer she had been led to believe. That element still greatly puzzled her, especially since the data had been given to her by the Emperor himself, but... considering how he had died, she estimated that he had been deceived about Skywalker, but by whom? she wondered.   
  
Vader? What would be the point? Or Prince Xizor from Black Sun?.. But again, to what end..? Even as she tried to figure out her new puzzle, she decided that no matter what would happen in Hylliard City, she would make sure that Skywalker wouldn't leave the planet.  
  
He would remain with her for the time being.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
On the morning of the fourth day, something had definitely changed between the   
two young people. Unlike the past three days, the fourth one began under the sign of a beginning of trust. The woman didn't give back his weapon to Luke, but she didn't hold him at point blank range anymore either.   
  
Instead, they both walked side by side, scanning their surroundings while they approached the outer edge of the forest. Behind them, Artoo, still in his travois, clucked to himself as he continued to keep his sensors on to warn them of incoming predators.  
  
  
  
  
  
After spending the rest of the night debating whether she was going crazy or if she had to kill SKywalker right away, during his sleep, Mara had settled on the intermediate decision that he deserved a break as far as her rudeness went... but she had also resolved that she wouldn't let him escape if he meant to use her softening against her; thus, she was more lenient with him yet constantly remained wary for a trick from his part.  
  
However, the Jedi didn't try to take advantage of her looser supervision to escape her. Instead, he gladly tagged along without any prompting from her part. She for her part kept her blaster holstered and walked beside the young man; she even bore his attempts of light conversation with her and deigned answer without a scathing remark to his every question.   
  
Naturally, it wasn't easy, but... the more she bit down on a few insults, and the easier it became to be somewhat nicer with the Jedi. Of course, she reflected as she listened to his accounting of one of his missions as a younger man, she would never be friend with him, nor would it save his life when the moment would come to obey her master's last command, or at least keep him from returning to his friends, but... it felt... good to speak with someone, not always block him out.   
  
Still, she made sure to keep a cool voice as well as keep her attitude on the limit of being rough, but it was a teasing roughness now, she noticed, not a scathing one.  
  
All of a sudden, Skywalker stilled beside her, his features indicating that he was focused on something.  
  
"What is it?" she asked him even as she scanned their surroundings. Nothing seemed amiss.  
  
"Do you hear that?" he specified even as he tilted his head to the side.  
  
Mara strained to listen past the silence... and finally picked up what he had heard. It was a whining sound but too faint to identify it as anything more than the sound of an engine.  
  
"They're far ahead of us," she commented.   
  
"And behind," Skywalker added, attracting his attention to what was now coming from behind them.  
  
Great, she thought in frustration, they were already pinpointed. "Let's go," she told him and resumed her walk.  
  
Soon enough, they identified the sound as belonging to imperial speeder bikes; they took a moment to consider their options.  
  
  
  
  
After some exchange of strategies, some natural disguise for Skywalker... and a reluctant change of role as far as Mara was concerned, they headed straight for the Rancor's pit that was waiting for them.   
  
While they resumed their trek, with Skywalker keeping her own, loaded blaster trained on her, although more loosely than she herself would, she thought back to what she had just done.  
  
Despite the fact that she hated the Jedi and wanted to kill him, she had given him her weapon 'and' his lightsaber, effectively freeing him from her custody. Now why had she done that? she wondered angrily. Sure they had been short on ideas, but to free him--- hadn't she decided to keep him prisoner just last night?, she reminded herself. And how, she continued in confusion, had she been able to make her body cooperate into this when she hadn't been able to make it kill him a few days ago?? What was wrong with her?? she asked to no one while she pulled the droid's travois after herself. Why hadn't she felt even a little misgiving when she had given the blaster's power pack to the Jedi? Let alone his lightsaber? It had, she reluctantly admitted, been almost as if she had always known him and that she knew that she could trust him. But it couldn't be, she reminded herself seriously. It was impossible; she hated the Jedi... didn't she?  
  
Her bad ankle complained slightly as she trudged on but she forced herself to not slow her pace. However, she was almost glad when the imperials finally found them and stopped them. She watched silently as they took custody of both herself and Skywalker, then behaved while they took them to their main camp.  
  
There, the officer in charge of the blockade asked them a few questions about their appearing straight in the middle of their net, then gave signs that he wasn't convinced about 'Jade's' story. He also gave orders to take Skywalker to the medunit to have his face's temporary puffiness treated.  
  
The man knew. She silently glanced in Skywalker's direction as troopers cuffed them; the Jedi barely lifted his left eyebrow in uncertainty before they were both herded away from the small command unit and toward the nearby city of Hylliard.  
  
Well so much for Karrde's and Solo's clever scheme, she pouted in frustration. Not only hadn't it fooled the imps, but it also left her weaponless and restrained. Of course, she calculated grimly as she glanced around herself, she could always jump the man behind her and kill the five others before they realized what had happened, but considering that there were other troops in the nearby streets, she knew that her success would be brief.   
  
No, she decided, she couldn't risk something right now and be even more restrained afterward; better bear with the situation as best as she could and---  
  
The group suddenly halted just as five men---- led by Chin!!, she recognized... came out of a nearby alley; the troopers instantly trained their weapons on the newcomers while the front guard confiscated their weapons. Mara threw a questioning glance at one of Karrde's men; he barely nodded in the direction of the houses near the main plaza. She nodded in understanding and settled in to wait for further information about what was planned.   
  
The four men left a few minutes later, leaving a new prisoner in the custody of the imperials: Han Solo.   
  
Although Solo had never been part of her targets, she had studied him just as she had studied Skywalker and the rest of his friends in hopes to find a way to get to Skywalker through them. As she had surmised back then, it would be useless. While the friendship between the two men seemed genuine and strong, Solo wouldn't allow the Jedi to give himself up for him... yet he himself was now risking his own safety to be with the Jedi during whatever was coming up.  
  
Even though she pretended to not pay any attention to the two rebels, she listened attentively to what she could catch of their whispered exchange. So something was indeed organized to free them from the imps. Very well then, she would wait for their cue.  
  
It didn't take a long while to come; Skywalker purposefully tripped his droid, sending it crashing on the rough ground, then whispered something to it.  
  
As she gazed up ahead, Mara understood what he had in mind; she gasped despite herself. If it didn't work, she silently glared at him as the officer asked him what this had been about, she would personally hound him in the after-life for his stupidity.  
  
Solo also expressed his doubts about the Jedi's plan, to which Skywalker answered confidently.  
  
Meanwhile, the troops continued to herd them toward the main plaza... and its domed, stone-structure which Skywalker meant to use to his advantage. Sure, she conceded, the pillars would offer more cover than out here in the open, but it could also offer cover to the imps and allow them to entrench themselves if the chariot ships, which were now above them, landed to give more cover.  
  
Slowly, unavoidably, they stepped closer and closer to the structure. The closer they came, and the more edgy she grew. What was Karrde waiting for?---  
  
As if hearing her thought, the weapons, which had been confiscated from Chin's group, suddenly went off in a spectacular display of explosion.   
  
Lacking even a fraction of a second of preparation, Mara reflexively reeled down as the thunderous cacophony assaulted her ears while the shock wave threw her off balance.  
  
Her head was still ringing when rough hands suddenly pulled her from the ground and practically hauled her toward the chosen refuge of the imperials: the stony arch and dome. She grunted in complaint as the troopers threw her down in a corner; she took a moment to gather her thoughts before getting up once again.  
  
Okay, the attack had begun, she still couldn't use the Force and was weaponless, but not harmless. She took a peek above the column that was hiding her and took stock of the situation. She cursed inwardly.   
  
The Chariot was beginning to land.   
  
Skywalker and Solo, who had also been brought in with her and had somehow freed their hands, were now watching and debating like two frightened children. She pushed herself forward and to Skywalker's side, then took hold of his biceps and squeezed hard in frustration.  
  
"Whatever you're going to do, do it 'now'," she snapped angrily at him. "If the Chariot gets down, you'll never get them out from cover."  
  
"I know," the Jedi answered her serenely, confidently. "I'm counting on it."  
  
Unsure whether to strangle him right there and then, or to ignore him and take a jump at the troopers herself, she glared long and hard at him, meeting his blue gaze head on.  
  
She thus realized that he was dead serious about this, that he wasn't risking the lives of Karrde's men just for the fun of it; he did mean to save them while saving themselves.  
  
Stricken by this discovery, she let go of his arm while her eyes remained glued to his, piercing layers and layers of unsuspected strength and courage through them.  
  
"Here, let me help you with these," Solo offered her even as he began to pick at her cuffs.  
  
She took her eyes off the Jedi at that, watched Solo's short intervention--- then met the man's brown gaze as he too looked at her.  
  
Unlike what she had just experienced with Skywalker, she didn't feel as if she were being drawn in a whirlpool of goodness, but she understood all the same that Solo stood by the Jedi and that he too didn't mean to sacrifice any unnecessary lives.   
  
"Be ready to run for it," he advised her even as Skywalker gathered his feet under himself---- and suddenly, it was time to attack.  
  
Mara turned her head in his direction just in time to see him jump over the fallen pillar behind which they were hiding; she thus noticed that the Chariot had finished its landing, effectively blocking off the incoming fire of Karrde's men.  
  
Refocusing on the two rebels, she watched them in slight bewilderment as they effectively dispatched two of the rear guards before Skywalker called to his droid for something; she chose that moment to jump to her feet and joined the fray. If the rebels were going to save Karrde's men, who were strangers to them, then she decided that she herself would certainly not stand by and watch them at work.  
  
Gathering her momentum on the fallen pillar, she jumped toward the nearest trooper who had backed away from the now lightsaber-armed Jedi. Her extended foot caught him straight in the back, throwing him off balance and against a nearby pillar. Before he could recover, she spun on her heel and kicked him on the side of the head, then jumped and completed with her other foot coming down on his exposed shoulder and back.  
  
The man collapsed to the ground, unconscious.  
  
She then meant to take on another man---- but she changed her mind when she understood 'what' was the Jedi's strategy. Even as he bisected yet another column of stone, her eyes darted up to the suddenly unstable stony dome. Large cracks had already opened in it and parts of the stones were already raining down on them.  
  
"Come on!" Solo urged her---- then grabbed hold of her hand as he ran by her; he pulled her away from the collapsing structure.  
  
"What about---" she asked as she ran after him.   
  
Her head reflexively turned backward to check on Skywalker's progress. The Jedi was right on their heels, having cleared the edge of the structure in time. The troopers, who had found refuge in its middle, never stood a chance.  
  
Behind them, the dome crashed down with the thunderous sound of inevitability.  
  
  
  
  
TBC in part 8: Aftermath  
  
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)  
  
  
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the Sarlacc's throat without even being read.) 


	12. part 8: Aftermath

At point blank range  
Part 8: Aftermath  
By SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
02-02-02/  
  
________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of Heir to the Empire belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel, this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related to the events of Heir to the Empire also belong to T. Zhan. Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.  
See my homepage for more details.  
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving me some of your precious time, my friend :)  
__________________  
  
  
  
  
After the dust had settled on the main plaza of Hylliard City, Mara hadn't had much time to think about what had happened there. The moment that Karrde had joined her and the rebels, he had herded her away from Skywalker and put her in charge of getting the injured back to camp, then, once this had been done, had told her to oversee the evacuation procedures.  
  
Hence, she had been unable to remain true to her promise of the previous night and keep Skywalker from returning to his friends.  
  
  
  
As she watched the Millenium Falcon lift off with Skywalker's X-wing attached to it, she felt a twinge of anger burn in her chest, but it was short-lived and disappeared with a sigh of resignation.  
  
With his presence amongst them being a public knowledge now, she conceded to herself that it would have been impossible to keep him stashed away as she had first meant to do. The men, especially those who had helped him escape, wouldn't have cooperated with her plan, and especially not Karrde. Thus, she would have had to leave the group... or to let 'him' go anyway.  
  
Either way, she sighed in acceptance, she lost; however, the actual way of losing him was less costly than if she had had to leave Karrde's group. She had failed once again in her mission for the Emperor, but her master was dead, couldn't punish her anymore for her failure. On the other hand, had she left Karrde, she would have destroyed her potential future as a trader; she would have undoubtedly resumed being without much means of anything, no matter how much money she had saved.  
  
Money could only buy so much... and certainly not the pride she felt at being a successful woman in command in Karrde's group.   
  
Up ahead, the two ships finally turned on their main boosters and flew up and away from the forest.   
  
She had managed to capture Skywalker, she reflected seriously, but this captivity had turned out to be full of surprises for her; she even had a new respect for her arch nemesis.   
  
She also knew for sure that the Jedi had never been a cold killer. What he had told her about his past earlier in the morning had finally convinced her that he was a caring man.   
  
She had also seen for herself that even powerless, he was resourceful. If he wanted, he could take a commanding place in the Republic that would be as prestigious as Vader's had been, or, she estimated, he could even easily supplant the government and rule in their place.  
  
But no. That wasn't what Skywalker wanted, she admitted as her eyes continued to track the small, bright point that was the slowly disappearing ships in the higher atmosphere. What motivated the Jedi was to help the others and do what he could to make the galaxy a better place for everyone.   
  
He was also aware of his limitations, that much he had revealed to her through his numerous hesitations when he had breached that subject. However, deep down, he wanted to make his visions of peace and justice come true, and unlike the Imperial values she had always supported, Skywalker's values were not backed by control and ruling.  
  
They were backed by respect of differences and care.  
  
Yes, now she knew all that about him, but, she hesitated slightly, it still didn't make any easier the fact that she had failed for the second time in regards of Skywalker's demise. Her old master had given her the same order twice before dying; he still haunted her mind when she wasn't on Myrkr. She had failed him today... she had failed him ever since she had walked into Karrde's office after they had captured the Jedi.   
  
Normally, she would be boiling mad with anger and deep-seated hatred, but strangely, she admitted as she turned away from forest and returned to her barracks, she couldn't conjure up any of those feelings at the moment.  
  
Not with their usual intensity anyway.  
  
She did feel a twinge of anger, although it was thoroughly dissipated, and she always sneered slightly at the thought of Skywalker's disgusting goodness... but those two emotions were now very diffuse in her heart thanks to feelings she had never experienced before: confusion, doubt... and great interest.  
  
Never in her life had she felt as she did at the moment, not even with her farmboy. Throughout the past years, everything and everyone had always been clear-cut, black and white, and mostly despiteful; no one had ever captured her interest the way that man, who inhabited her nightmares, did. Even worse, she wasn't entertaining only a cold interest or curiosity; instead, she was truly wondering what his tales had been hiding from her, if he were the same with the others or if it had been only with her, how he could be so gorgeous, and... how he could be as nice and kind as he seemed to be.  
  
Even Solo, despite his friendship and his well-known union with Skywalker's sister, had come through to her as slightly rough on the edges... but not the Jedi. Even when she had been on the edge of killing him, he had been all smoothness and warmth... as was his body, which still haunted her memories.  
  
All those strange thoughts truly puzzled her... and already affected her in ways she was most uncomfortable with.  
  
Had the Jedi done something to her after all?, she wondered dimly while she shooed away her latest memories of the bathing man in the shadows...   
  
Seconds later, she sighed to clear her mind of questions, then recovered her cooler composure and focused on her actual duty.  
  
Karrde was counting on her to prepare the Starry Ice for hasty departure.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
In transit to Sluis Van, Luke took Han's advice seriously and retired to his quarters to rest from his latest misadventure. However, he couldn't find sleep; his mind couldn't stop thinking about the mysterious woman who had just crossed his path.  
  
He eventually sighed heavily and accepted that he liked her, no matter who or what she used to be.  
  
From the foot of his bunk, his faithful droid swiveled its head at that and fluted a comment.  
  
Luke smiled tiredly at the droid's worry about him; even though he had insisted that he would be safe in his quarters, his mechanical friend had been adamant about staying with him and keep him out of trouble.  
  
"Yes, I'm fine," he reassured him. "I guess there's just too much on my mind at the moment," he admitted although he winced at his own words.  
  
Normally, a Jedi shouldn't let his thoughts affect his need to rest like this, but it wasn't a normal situation, he reminded himself seriously.  
  
He had been cut off from the Force for nearly a whole week, something that had never happened to him even when he had been untrained, then he had gotten to know a self-appointed assassin... whom he couldn't help but find captivating.  
  
"I think we beat our record of sticky jams back there, Artoo, don't you think?" he tried to joke.  
  
His droid agreed mirthlessly with him, then trundled closer to the head of the bunk until he could see his face.   
  
"I can't stop thinking about Mara," Luke half-whispered truthfully, gently petting the head of his friend with his left hand. "I mean, I know she wants to kill me, and that trying to see her again would be suicidal, but,..." he slightly hesitated, then lifted himself on his elbow even as he turned himself on his side until he could gaze into Artoo's 'eye'. "Am I turning crazy or was she softening this morning?" he asked him earnestly.  
  
Artoo took a moment to consider his question, then reluctantly agreed with him but instantly added that being saved from certain death might do this to even the most hardened of assassins.  
  
"I know," Luke sighed once again, leaning back on his bunk and crossing his arms behind his head. "It might just have been an after effect of the adrenaline," he tried to reason with himself.  
  
However, his heart continued to object to his rational explanations. No matter how many times she had wedged her blaster against his body, or all the venomous glares she had given him... "She saved my life, Artoo," he commented in the silence. "Why would she do that if she truly wanted me dead?"  
  
His stout little friend couldn't answer anything to that, he seemed to hesitate before saying something.  
  
"What?" Luke prompted him, getting back to his elbows. "What is on your mind?" he asked him although he knew that his droid didn't have a 'mind', only processors.   
  
However, considering how much of a being his droid had become ever since he had first met him, he didn't have any problems with considering that he did have a mind of his own. He certainly thought for himself at any rate.  
  
"Come on, Artoo," he prompted him. "Did you see something I didn't?"  
  
After all, he reminded himself, he had mostly been turned away from Mara whereas Artoo had always been facing her... and had seen her in very peculiar situations like when she had used his heater to dry herself.  
  
As if reaching the same conclusions, the droid began his explanation with a comment about being probably mistaken, but... he admitted, he had seen a wide range of expressions cross her face throughout the past four days...  
  
"Would you say kinder expressions?" he asked him, now sitting half upright.  
  
Artoo shook his head at that, but tentatively identified surprise, curiosity... and interest.  
  
So he had been right, Luke smiled to himself as he lightly plopped back on the bunk and took a deep breath in happiness. Whatever had happened to Mara before they had met, meeting him for real had softened her dispositions toward him; he hadn't been deluding himself this morning.  
  
Artoo whistled a grim warning at that, bringing him back to the present.  
  
"Don't worry," he reassured him, "I won't try to see her again; she still wants to kill me."  
  
However, he admitted to himself, it made a very important difference for him to know that he hadn't aggravated her while they had been together.  
  
Perhaps, some day, their paths would cross again... and they would be on better terms than on Myrkr.  
  
At least, he admitted to himself, 'he' hoped so.  
  
  
  
Had fun, liked it? Hope so :)  
  
  
  
  
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the Sarlacc's throat without even being read.) 


	13. Destiny at Work: Meeting Again

Destiny at Work  
Part 1/?: Meeting again  
by Mimi 23-03-99/08-02 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
__________________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of Heir to the   
Empire belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with   
Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel,   
this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related   
to events of Heir to the Empire also belong to Timothy Zhan. Please don't sue   
me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.  
See my home page for more details.   
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
  
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading ? Thank you for   
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.  
_________________________  
  
  
  
Time: After Luke has agreed to help Mara to rescue Karrde aboard the Chimeara.  
  
  
  
  
Feeling relatively uneasy, Luke stared out the viewport as his and Mara's ship   
hurtled through hyperspace. His discomfort had nothing to do with his actual   
companion though; instead, what was really unsettling him was what had just   
happened on Jomark... against Master C'Boath.  
  
Incredible how the old man had played with him, he thought as he squirmed   
uncomfortably in his seat. Even more worrying was the fact that the other had   
done so without alerting any of his danger senses... danger senses which he   
could normally rely on perhaps a little more than he liked yet knew that he   
could trust.  
  
This time however, they had remained mute... Hence, if Mara had not come 'to   
the rescue'...   
  
He forced himself to not consider what could have happened next and instead   
refocused on the surprising... intriguing young woman who had once again   
appeared out of nowhere.   
  
She had come to his help---- not that she would admit it of course, he smirked   
slightly as he stole a quick glance in her direction. She was plotting a   
course on the computer and was concentrating on the task at hand. As he   
studied her serious features, the definite attraction he had been feeling for   
her just before leaving Myrkr flooded his mind once again.  
  
She really was intriguing, he thought warmly, taking in her beautiful, now   
familiar sight. Right now, her red-gold hair was falling over her shoulder,   
framing her hard yet delicate face and giving her an almost angelic look. He   
shyly made the comparison between her actual look and how he had seen her in the   
moonlight and decided that yes, whoever she had been or was now, deep down, she   
was an angel. She had merely lost her wings to come down amongst them.   
Suddenly catching himself, he turned away from her, fighting down the fiery   
blush that was creeping up his cheeks, burning them with his feeling of   
foolishness.   
  
And now he was a farmboy again while around her... Well, he admitted with   
himself, she truly was beautiful, but she was also a mystery, and a still   
potentially dangerous at that. Even though he had missed her ever since they   
had parted on Myrkr, he had had to remind himself that she wanted to kill him   
when his thoughts for her had brought him to consider searching her out.   
  
Fortunately for him, both Artoo 'and' the C'Boath diversion had made sure to   
keep him in check and focused on what he had had to do...  
  
Only to have her seek him out.  
  
Life sure was full of surprises, he thought wryly while he studied the dials and   
switches that were on the console in front of him; everything was in order.   
  
Mara Jade, who had sworn and promised him that she would kill him, had just   
enlisted him for a mission. No matter what she said or how she acted, he now   
knew for certain that she did have a heart. It was simply buried deep down   
within her... perhaps to protect itself, or perhaps because it was how she had   
come to be while living with the Emperor's Court, he conceded sadly.  
  
Whichever it was though, he reflected, it now seemed ready to come out, if shyly   
and uncertainly. Her devotion to Karrde certainly was quite an excellent   
indicator that there was more to her than a cold murderer. If she didn't even   
care about her boss, he knew from experience that she would not even consider   
putting her life in danger for him.  
  
Kind of like Han when he had met him, he smiled inwardly, careful to not betray   
his set of mind to his known-yet-unknown companion. Up to now, she had an   
excellent control of herself and her deep-seated hatred of him, but he also knew   
better than to risk upsetting her in any way.   
  
Anyway, when he had met Han, he too had been a no-care smuggler, perhaps even a   
killer to a certain degree although his now brother-in-law had never taken on   
any contract of that kind, but he had once admitted to him that he had had his   
share of faults toward living beings. Back then, he had not cared about anyone   
but himself and Chewie, and the Falcon. Hence, he himself had needed money to   
bait him into helping Leia. From this moment on though, Han had begun to change   
his outlook on life until he had discovered that having a heart was not a   
weakness but a strength.   
  
Han had needed 'his' and Leia's help to discover his true nature; Mara for her   
part already seemed to be on her way to at least care about others, if only   
about people she knew, but she had cared enough to ask 'him', her arch nemesis,   
to help her.   
  
He couldn't help but feel happy for her that she was slowly breaking away from   
the Emperor and his cold world of hatred and anger. Even if she would probably   
never even like him as a friend, or a mere person she knew, he would be content   
to know that she felt friendship, care and perhaps even love for others.  
  
Even though he hadn't known his father 'this' much, he had learnt one thing from   
him whenever he had touched his mind: living in the Dark Side and in the   
Emperor's slavery had made his life a bleak, deathly-cold, living nightmare.   
  
Hence, if he could help Mara return to the warmth of at least less destructive   
feelings, then he promised himself that he would do it. He would help her free   
her true nature from the remaining control of the Emperor so that she would be   
able to care and love for those she considered her friends.  
  
Even if he would never be part of these people, unless the Force pulled quite a   
trick on the both of them, he knew all too well how difficult breaking free from   
the Dark Side could be so he would not abandon her to this task.  
  
However, he would not impose his help to her either; he would, like today... let   
her come around although he really hadn't expected her to show up ever again in   
his life, and especially with a request for him to help her.  
  
His mind made up, he made a point to let her take the initiative as to what   
would happen next.  
  
Silence stretched even in his mind as Mara continued to chart their course   
through hyperspace, studiously avoiding any conversation with him. He himself   
spent time drifting in the Force and considering how he would set his warning   
senses on an even more sensitive 'trigger' from now on. Whether he wanted to   
think about it or not, C'Boath had really fooled him as if he were a green-  
horned farmboy.  
  
The more time passed, and the more Luke's body reminded him that it was past his   
bed time. His eyelids slowly became heavier until he was aware that they were   
drooping close by themselves.  
  
Sighing inwardly in tiredness, he closed his eyes and let his mind drift. He   
wasn't worried right now; he knew that he could trust his companion to not   
kill him.   
  
She had saved his life again...  
  
And he was so tired...   
  
He fell asleep practically immediately.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Eventually, Mara felt that she couldn't pretend being busy anymore on an already   
programmed computer. Almost reluctantly, she leaned back in her seat and slowly   
turned toward her passenger, ready to look away if he caught her watching him.   
  
She thus discovered that he was fast asleep.   
  
Who would've thought?, she thought somewhat warmly. Luke Skywalker was her   
passenger, not her prisoner. She had to admit that life was full of surprises.   
  
It was also full of twists that seemed to be out of her control, she reflected,   
her mind taking a more resentful turn. After his leaving Myrkr, she had decided   
that for the moment, she wouldn't chase him anymore, would leave him be until   
she would be able to exact revenge on him without killing him.   
  
Fate however seemed to have decided otherwise and to even push that decision on   
her; it had 'forced' her to seek his help to rescue Karrde.   
  
Or had it?   
  
Had it really been a decision out of her control? Or was she still under the   
man's power?, she wondered as she gazed absently at his serene features. True,   
she 'could' have rescued Karrde by herself just like she had handled all her   
missions as Emperor's Hand by herself.   
  
However, she could remember a few of them where an helper would have been   
welcome... and Skywalker being skilled enough to take out a whole contingent of   
troops even without the Force...   
  
She simply knew better than to underestimate Grand Admiral Thrawn, she reasoned   
with herself, and Skywalker was the best partner she could hope for as far as   
his abilities went.   
  
If not for them though, she wouldn't even consider that possibility.  
  
Or would she?, she wondered as she remembered the strange, stray thoughts she   
had had about the man ever since they had taken different paths on Myrkr. She   
hadn't missed him, she tried to convince herself,... not really miss him, and   
yet...  
  
She had sometimes found herself thinking that 'Skywalker would be the right   
person to speak to right now'. Even more puzzling, such thoughts had always   
been accompanied by flashes of their time together on Myrkr, when she had   
discovered new facets of her enemy's personality...  
  
Facets she hadn't expected to find in him because they were not in any other man   
she had ever dealt with.  
  
Aware that her eyes were drifting lower on the man's body, she brought them back   
to his relaxed face, his slightly lulling head and the brown-blond hair that was   
falling across his forehead to tickle his eyebrows...  
  
'How many times will I watch him sleep?' she thought, feeling more annoyed at   
her ongoing captivation with his features than his presence aboard her ship.   
  
She had watched him sleep every night on Myrkr, had done so even before they had   
actually met, and yet..., she admitted, mentally softening once again. Watching   
him right now was very different from all the previous times.   
  
For one thing, her mind wasn't filled with lies about him anymore; she had   
unwillingly spent time with him, had gotten to know the true Skywalker even if   
she had never had any interest to do so.  
  
However, she could now admit that it had been an interesting experience... once   
they had gotten past the first moments of dangerous animosity from her part.  
  
She refocused her attention on the aqualine nose, the high cheekbones, the soft   
eyelids which hid blue eyes that were making her feel as if she were drowning in   
a sea of kindness whenever she gazed straight at them...  
  
No, she admitted, the face of the man hadn't changed since their last meeting,   
but her perception of him was changing... definitely softening now even though   
she couldn't really comprehend how she had ever let this happen.  
  
Ever since she had been aware of her action, she had been taught to never care   
about others, not even her master. Everything had been cold in her world,   
bleak, and focused on her duties to her master, sole person of importance in her   
life.   
  
Up to now, she had never felt the coldness of her life, had thought that it was   
the best way it had to be and had never even considered opening herself to   
anything else... then Skywalker had literally dropped on her lap--- and had   
blasted her with so much warmth of friendship, worry and care that the ice of   
her former world had melted away, allowing her to discover what was the other   
side of her emotional coin.  
  
At first, she hadn't realized all this, had not even considered it this way, but   
ever since she had left Myrkr, she had spent several hours of the night   
considering what had happened to her while in Skywalker's presence, and coupled   
with her recurring nightmares, had come to understand that she had just been   
given a choice as to how she wanted to live from now on.  
  
Up to now, she hadn't even realized that she had made a choice, but considering   
what she had just done to save her boss, she had to admit that she had chosen   
the warmer path... the opposite of what her life had been up to now.  
  
Strangely, she had to admit that it made her feel less acid toward everything   
and everyone; on the other hand, the dreams seemed to increase in intensity and   
frequency ever since she 'had' made that choice too.  
  
As if trying to keep her in her old path. Now however, she knew that it was a   
lie, that it was something left behind by her 'liar' of a master to achieve   
revenge against Skywalker who had killed him.   
  
But why had her master lied to her?, she wondered more seriously, turning her   
seat back toward the main viewport. When Thrawn had told her about there being   
other Hands, she had felt as if her world had disappeared from under her feet   
once again, but this time 'because' of the one man she had always trusted   
blindly.  
  
The Emperor had lied to her. He had lied to her about who and what Skywalker   
had been, had lied to her when he had told her that she was his sole Hand...   
  
He had probably lied to her since the beginning, she finally admitted to   
herself, her fists clenched in two tight balls of anger. True, she had provided   
for her, had given her more than she would have ever had in life, but... Had he   
really saved her from her parents?... Or had he taken her from them?   
  
For the briefest of moments, she tried to remember past her childhood, to see   
her parents and what happened before she had become aware of her being with the   
Emperor, her master.  
  
Nothing.  
  
Resigning herself to this lack of information, she sighed, shook her head to   
clear it of anger toward her master. He had probably had his reasons, she   
decided even if she didn't like this justification. As for Skywalker, perhaps   
he had known which effect the man would have on her and had counterattacked this   
effect 'before' giving her the mission, then doing it again with the dream that   
was constantly waking up her anger and hatred.   
  
On the other hand, she conceded, gazing once again at her sleeping passenger,   
rebel or not, Jedi or not, Skywalker was a good man. For the moment, his death   
wouldn't serve her well and she had decided that she was more important than her   
dead master who had lied to her about her position in his court.  
  
As new waves of resent churn up her insides, her eyes remained fastened to her   
passenger's sleeping features. It seemed to calm her. His face was softly lit   
by the surrounding lights, and nothing was creasing his smooth skin.   
  
Like that night when she had stunned him, he looked boyish, somewhat reminding   
her of--- and she was loosing it yet again!, she stopped herself as completely   
unwelcome feelings of attraction invaded her heart.  
  
Opening some kind of companionship, not even friendship with Skywalker was one   
thing, but feeling what she had felt for her long-lost farmboy was something   
else altogether.  
  
"Kreth!" she muttered, feeling annoyed by her constantly confused set of mind.   
  
Before meeting Skywalker, she had always been filled with dark hatred, now with   
bleak confusion about everything she had ever believed in.  
  
Would she ever know peace and rest?, she asked no one as she turned back toward   
the viewport and concentrated hard on clearing her mind of everything for a   
while.   
  
She needed to sleep too.   
  
  
  
  
Copyright 1999, 2002 SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
Webmaster : Skyjade(Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff won't even   
be read.) 


	14. part 2: Planning

Destiny at Work  
Part 2: Planning  
by SJ 23-03-99/2002 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
__________________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of Dark Force   
Rising belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with   
Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel,   
this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related   
to events of Heir to the Empire also belong to Timothy Zhan. Please don't sue   
me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.  
See my home page for more details.   
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
  
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for   
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.  
_________________________  
  
  
  
Luke was floating through a bland nothing when a groan attracted his more   
conscious attention and pulled him out of his dozing state.  
  
He slowly opened his eyes and turned his head in the direction of the repeated   
noise.  
  
"No..." Mara whispered sleepily as she tossed her head to the side while she   
gripped the armrests of her chair until her knuckles were white. "No!..." she   
exclaimed again, turning away from him as if she were trying to fight her way   
free of something.  
  
Completely awaken now, Luke carefully approached the nightmare-plagued woman and   
hesitantly touched her hand.  
  
"Mara," he called softly, wary for any dangerous reaction from the woman.   
  
She didn't even seem to feel his touch. Instead, she continued to groan even as   
sweat broke on her forehead. "Master, no, they will..." she muttered   
incoherently.   
  
Suddenly aware that she was having a nightmare about the late Emperor, Luke   
swallowed his second attempt to wake her up, shocked by the intensity of the   
woman's reaction to what she was seeing. If her grip on the chair was anything   
to go by, she was ready to strangle anybody who was her enemy in the dream.  
  
And somehow, he had the strong feeling that it was him.   
  
Would she attack him upon wakening?, he wondered even as he lightly sensed her   
re-surging hatred and lust for revenge, or would she make the difference   
between----  
  
All of a sudden, he wasn't simply sensing his companion's emotional output; he   
was witnessing her nightmare as well. Even though he hadn't even meant to touch   
her mind, he was close to it now... and could only watch in dumbfound horror as   
he saw himself and his father turn on the Emperor to kill him. Far away, too   
far to intervene in time, was Mara, struggling against her dream-sluggish body   
to stop them this time. She opened fire on them with her pocket blaster; the   
bolt of energy dissolved before it had even reached the men's location. He   
winced for his dream-self when the Emperor unleashed his all-too-well remembered   
bolts of energy on himself and his father, but they were shielded against them.  
  
They kept advancing, their lightsabers, one green blade and one red blade, ready   
for the final kill, and then, he saw it.  
  
Saw the very source of Mara's continued hatred of him... of the pain that was   
inhabiting her beautiful eyes: the Emperor locked his gaze on the far away   
figure of the desperate woman and implanted a cruel command in her mind.  
  
"You will kill Luke Skywalker."  
  
Then he and his father stroke---- and Mara snapped awake with a gasp of terror.   
  
Luke, who was still slightly holding her hand, barely blocked her left hand   
before she crushed his throat with her hatred-fed, powerful punch. He locked   
his eyes on hers, aware that she was not completely awakened yet.  
  
"Mara, it's all right, it's Luke," he reassured her while not letting go of her   
hands.   
  
He was all too aware that her blaster would be the weapon she would go for if he   
freed her right hand, and he doubted if he would be able to stop her from   
killing him in her actual state.  
  
"It was just a bad dream, not real," he soothed her.  
  
'And the very opposite of what really happened,' he thought in disgust at how   
the Emperor had twisted the truth to maintain Mara's devotion until she   
had avenged his death at the hands of Anakin Skywalker.  
  
In front of Luke, the woman tugged against his hold, but it was lacking the   
strength of will which he had come to associate with her.   
  
"It's all right, just take your time to wake up," he said gently, slightly   
tightening his hold on her right hand to physically help her break free from the   
remnants of the horrible vision.  
  
How long had she been seeing this?, he wondered sorrowfully at the thought of   
the pain she had had to bear because of him. To his surprise though, he felt   
the sudden warning to not talk about the fact that he now knew about her   
nightmare. The Force, he realized, wanted him to wait until Mara would be ready   
to hear the truth about this before bringing this up with her.  
  
Otherwise, he conceded, he might not be able to defend himself for long if she   
chose to kill him for his accidental invasion.  
  
  
  
Mara was thoroughly lost. One moment, she was seeing yet again the death of her   
master, and the second, she was awakening in the presence of the hated Jedi...   
who had restrained her somehow.   
  
She fought against her bonds, pulled against them to be able to finish him once   
and for all--- when she realized that he hadn't tied her up in any way.  
  
Instead, he was holding her hands in his hands and was trying to comfort her.  
  
Comfort?, she frowned even as she shook her head to see past the strange haze   
that was obscuring her vision. Why would the murderer of the dream want to   
comfort her?  
  
He had sneered at her after he had killed her master, had even relished in the   
painful death of the Emperor by stroking him twice with his blade before he had   
died. He was a monster, a killer, a...  
  
"It was just a bad dream, Mara," a gentle, somewhat familiar voice told her,   
pulling her out of her thoughts and back to reality.  
  
She re-opened her eyes, which had drooped closed once again, and looked in the   
direction of the voice.  
  
Skywalker was looking at her, worry etched on his face. She dimly noticed that   
he was really holding her hands, slightly squeezing them in his warm hands in   
reassurance, but what caught her undivided attention was his eyes.  
  
They were not at all like the ones of the sneering man in her dream.   
  
"Are you all right?" he asked her solicitously.   
  
For the briefest of moments, her true self expressed herself, barely nodding as   
if still under the shock of the dream, then she caught herself and pulled her   
hands out of his hold.  
  
"Yes, no need to fuss over me," she answered as tartly as she could while   
suppressing the still reflexive reaction of wanting to kill the man of her   
nightmare.  
  
This wasn't the man of her nightmare, she reminded herself. This was the   
real Skywalker, who was here to help her rescue Karrde. He was the kind being   
she had never thought even existed.   
  
At least, when she was loosing it, she scolded herself before scowling at her   
companion who was still looking at her as if she were a lab experiment.  
  
"What? Have I lost an ear while I was sleeping?" she asked him even as she   
swiveled her seat away from him and stood up to pace a little in the small space   
that was behind the piloting station.   
  
"Huh, no, I..." the Jedi hesitated slightly.  
  
"And what were you trying to do when I woke up?" she inquired, whirling toward   
him to pin him with her green glare.  
  
"To wake you up, nothing else. You were not giving signs that you would wake up   
by yourself," he explained as he leaned back against the console that was behind   
him.  
  
"Well next time, leave me alone, Skywalker," she warned him, then turned away   
from him.  
  
Considering what had happened lately, and although it went against what the   
dream was telling her to do, she really didn't want to take the risk of his   
trying to wake her up and her killing him thanks to the hatred she was always   
feeling whenever she woke up from the cursed nightmare.   
  
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and worked on purging her emotions back   
down to the bottom of her mind where it wouldn't represent any danger for the   
Jedi for the time being.  
  
She needed him to save Karrde... and she still didn't want to kill him although,   
perhaps, this would be the only way to break free from the nightmare... She was   
so tired of them, of the torment they caused her...  
  
A sudden, firm grip on her right arm made her snap her eyes open to glare at   
Skywalker once again.   
  
"Are you all right?" he asked her again, this time definitely worried about her.  
  
"Let me go, Jedi, or I won't be responsible for what happens next," she warned   
him even as she tried, although half-heartedly, to shrug free from his touch.  
  
To his credit, the man understood her warning and let her go, but not before   
helping her to a more upright position.  
  
She belatedly realized that he had caught her just as she had been crumpling to   
the deck.   
  
"Look, I'm just concerned about you. This thing has really shaken you up," he   
observed seriously.  
  
'No kidding,' she glared silently at him before turning away from him once   
again.  
  
"Do you want to talk about it?"  
  
"No," she stated with finality.   
  
No, she didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to tell her confusing target   
that she was plagued by visions of how he had killed her master...  
  
Or had he?  
  
"All right, Mara. I won't insist. If you need to talk though," he offered her   
simply, "I'll be there for you."  
  
And with that, he returned to the piloting station and called up a report of   
their current location in hyperspace.  
  
Reluctantly, almost guiltily, Mara eventually turned half-way around to study   
the back of her companion's head.  
  
He would be there for her...  
  
No one had ever been there for her, had ever even cared about her set of mind...   
her emotions.   
  
True, up to not so long ago, emotions had been prohibited in her world. Or had   
they? She had always been filled with anger, hatred, even fear in order to   
crush it. Yes, she had dealt with emotions before, but not the same kind of   
emotions than what Skywalker had brought into her heart: care.  
  
And he cared about her, he really wanted to help her...  
  
Well, she decided even as she squared her shoulders, she didn't need his help   
for this. She would face it alone, just as she had always faced everything   
alone and come out stronger for it.  
  
'Then', her mental opposition offered, 'why do you need his help to rescue   
Karrde. You're a tough girl, you can do it by yourself.'  
  
True, she conceded, and yet... now that she was 'reunited', in a way, with the   
Jedi, she couldn't imagine going aboard the Chimaera alone.  
  
Somehow, she had grown dependent of him as a helper.  
  
First the vornsk, then the Chimaera; she hoped that it would be the end of it   
after this and that she would be able to return to her more normal routine such   
as hunting him down and avenging her losses at his hands.  
  
For some reason though, she doubted that her hope would be granted to her.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
One day and a half later, they broke their self-imposed silence and began to   
plan their rescue.  
  
They were now down to choosing one option out of what they had come up with   
during their brainstorming session.  
  
"The direct approach won't work, Mara. They are too vigilant at those stations,"   
Skywalker commented for the third time since they had begun to discuss their   
rescue plan.   
  
  
"Are you listening to me?" she asked him, crossing her arms over her chest in   
frustration. "I have all the codes to make it appear like an official order."   
  
"and what if they decided to double-check with a superior?" the Jedi countered   
seriously. "I can't cover that kind of exchange."   
  
"But you can tell them to forget about checking," she retorted suavely.  
  
"I'd rather not count on it working," he answered lamely, turning away from her   
to stare out the main viewport.  
  
"Why? Aren't you all powerful?" she sneered reflexively, glaring askance at his   
profile before turning away from him.  
  
"Not all the time, no," he admitted seriously, then lapsed into silence.  
  
Mara couldn't help but turn back toward her passenger to gape at him; she was   
unable to believe that he was admitting a weakness, and yet, as she gazed at his   
profile, she couldn't deny his action.   
  
Skywalker had just told her that he was not as invincible as everybody thought   
he was... and he was admitting it to her, the woman who had sworn to kill him,   
or at least avenge the past one way or another.  
  
The depth of his trust in her literally stunned her.  
  
The cockpit remained silent for an extra minute or two before she gathered her   
composure and admitted her own beliefs that she was not invincible either.  
  
"Suppose that I also have my doubts," she began somberly, "do you have any other   
idea?" she inquired without any trace of resent nor anger in her voice.  
  
Skywalker refocused her attention on her until their eyes met from across   
emotional distances until they were truly face to face for the first time since   
they had met.  
  
At this very moment, they were equals, without any pretense on either part...   
and the young man understood it; he shyly smiled at her, as if in encouragement,   
she noticed.  
  
"As it is, yes I do have an idea," he finally answered her previous question.   
"To what extent do your codes work?" he asked, looking at the plan of the ship   
that was projected by the tactical display of the main control board.  
  
"Everywhere inside the ship," she specified as she waved her finger all around   
the hologram of the traditional imperial Star Destroyer. "The code is a   
backdoor which gives me access to the main computer."   
  
  
  
  
Luke whistled in amazement as Mara explained what exactly she had at their   
disposal.  
  
"I didn't know something like that could exist," he half-whispered in awe.  
  
"well, now you know," the beautiful young woman shrugged. "What's your idea?"   
  
Having been distracted by the glinting of the overhead lights on her shining   
red-gold hair, Luke forcefully pulled himself out of his fascination and   
refocused on the task at hand.  
  
Freeing Talon Karrde.   
  
"Can you also control the garbage compactors?" he inquired, turning toward the   
board and programmed commands to enhance that part of the holo.  
  
"Yes...," the other answered uncertainly, a frown slowly creasing her smooth   
forehead.  
  
He understood that she had no idea about what he was up to, then had to admit   
that he too was wondering about this because last time he had visited a garbage   
compactor, he had promised himself to never dare the dianoga again.  
  
And yet, here he was, willingly considering that very possibility.   
  
"I could infiltrate the detention levels through the garbage compactor's   
grid," he explained simply, then waited for the other's reaction.  
  
She was flabbergasted.   
  
"What?!? Are you crazy?!" she gaped at him, her eyes wider than usual. "You   
don't even know what a compactor looks like!"   
  
"No, I do," he informed her in turn. "I... visited one before," he admitted, a   
foolish blush creeping up his cheeks at the thought of the first time he had   
attempted a rescue aboard an Imperial station.  
  
"What?" his companion frowned, truly stumped now.   
  
"It's a long story," he shrugged, waving away her question with a movement of   
his hand. " Let's just say that I'm planning to make the trip backward this   
time. You could narrow the walls so that I can climb up to the shaft," he   
explained seriously, "then I'll wait for the guards to change, get Karrde and go   
down again. Piece of cake really," he finished with a boyish smirk.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Mara stared at him. She could not tell him, she reminded herself, but she was   
truly impressed this time. He was not only skilled for physical stunts, but was   
also clever and shrewd.   
  
She had thought that the victory on Myrkr had been a stroke of chance, but she   
was now aware that she had been wrong. He had been as genius on Myrkr as he was   
at the moment with her.  
  
Even if she was trying hard to not grow anymore interested in the man than she   
already was, she couldn't help but find most interesting this side of him.   
  
She shook her head, both to clear her insane ideas as well as to express   
disbelief in order to hide her feelings.   
  
"Piece of cake, uh?" she challenged him. "Okay, we'll do it this way. After   
all, it's your life on the line," she reminded him seriously.  
  
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," the Jedi answered earnestly---  
  
Earning himself a glare from her.   
  
"I'm not worried about you, Skywalker," she reminded him reflexively,   
vehemently. "My sole concern is the completion of the operation, is that   
clear?"   
  
For a moment, their eyes met again, this time filled with defiance or animosity.  
  
"Crystal." he clipped, then turned away from her.  
  
"Good," she muttered before she too turned away from him.  
  
And sulked.   
  
Why in Sith did she feel so attracted to him??, she asked no one. And why was   
he so kind with her? Even when she had explicitly reminded him that she wanted   
to kill him, he hadn't glared at her. He had not smiled either, but he had   
seemed more... disappointed than angry at her, she admitted reluctantly as she   
remembered his latest gaze.   
  
Any other man would've left her high and dry after such an outburst, but not   
Skywalker...   
  
What was wrong with this Jedi???, she frowned, hastily throwing a look over her   
shoulder to check on him before refocusing on the bulkhead beside her. Could he   
possibly have changed so much from cold murderer to kind man??, her cold self   
wondered as she too began to cool down.  
  
'Unless...', her warmer self offered.  
  
She clenched her teeth at the very thought, yet couldn't ignore it anymore, not   
even with the part of her being that was still devoted to the Emperor.   
  
Unless, Skywalker had never been an assassin in the first place... which would   
mean... that the Emperor had lied about him too----   
  
No! It couldn't be, her cooler self objected vehemently. Her Master would never   
have lied to her about this. She had been and still was loyal, devoted,   
professional. He would've had no reason to lie to her and yet...   
  
Skywalker didn't fit at all in the standard description of a careless, cutthroat   
murderer. She had seen it on Myrkr, had come to understand that Skywalker was a   
caring man now, yet had never really dismissed the possibility that he had   
merely changed since Endor...  
  
Until today, and knowing that the Emperor had lied to her about the very basis   
of her life,... and probably about her target too.  
  
In fact, she didn't need to ponder it further because with was she already knew   
of the Jedi, she 'knew' that he was the exact opposite of what she had been led   
to believe.   
  
How had that journalist described him?.., she tried to remember as she called up   
her memories of the early reports she had seen about him after Endor.   
Benevolent.   
  
Yes, she agreed, at long last. Skywalker was benevolent. He was proving it   
again by helping her, his personal nemesis.   
  
Could she possibly even hurt such a man?, she wondered uneasily. Yes, she was   
an assassin, but she also had a morale... and if her order was based on a lie,   
she thought seriously, then that made it completely immoral.   
  
'And what about avenging herself on him,' her warmer self added to her   
confusion, 'If her pain resulted from the Emperor's actions instead of   
Skywalker's...'  
  
'Oh, shut up!' she snarled at herself, not ready at all to wander in the   
unpleasant territories of really considering the truth of what had been hidden   
from her so far.  
  
Especially not with the nightmares and orders that kept inhabiting her soul.  
  
Skywalker suddenly broke the silence.   
  
"You said that Karrde was caught because you led them to your base," he   
commented as he swiveled his seat back toward her to see her. "I take it that   
you weren't on Myrkr anymore."   
  
She also turned her seat to stare at him, once again surprised despite herself   
by his interest in others. She herself had rarely bothered to even think about   
her enemies unless it would teach her something about them.  
  
"We moved out as soon as possible, but almost got caught again on our next   
stop. Thrawn wanted Karrde very badly," she answered, matter-of-factly.  
  
"What about the rest of the group? Are they safe?"   
  
She raised an eyebrow in surprise. He really was worried about the wellbeing of   
the group... Definitely more a caring attitude than anything else... and not   
something that could result from a change but from the very nature of the man,   
her inner self reflected warmly.  
  
"Yes, they are," she informed him. "Aves's led them to another secret base."   
  
"I'm sorry I brought the Empire down on you," he answered earnestly, then turned   
back toward the side viewport and closed his eyes.   
  
Mara was speechless once again.   
  
'They' had been the ones who had captured him and dragged him on Myrkr, 'they'   
were responsible for the trouble with the imperials, and yet, here he was,   
apologizing for the results. For the briefest of moment, she wanted to tell him   
that it wasn't his fault, but she caught herself before she could reveal too   
much of her unwelcome feelings for him.   
  
Instead she played the arrogant smuggler.   
  
"Thanks," she answered shortly.  
  
Another silence stretched between them, then also stretched in time, leaving   
them both alone with their thoughts.  
  
Eventually, sleep claimed them once again.  
  
As usual, nightmares invaded Mara's soul, tormenting her to no end with the   
untimely demise of her former master.  
  
  
TBC in part 3: Partner  
  
  
  
Copyright 1999/2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
Webmaster : Skyjade(Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff won't even   
be read.) 


	15. part 3: Partners

Destiny at Work  
Part 3: Partners  
by SJ 23-03-99/2002 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
__________________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, if something is related to the spoken parts of Dark Force Rising, it belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related to events of Dark Force Rising also belong to Timothy Zhan. Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this. See my home page for more details.   
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
  
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for   
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.  
_________________________  
  
  
  
  
Far away from the small ships, somewhere in the core of the galaxy, Emperor Palpatine tightened his mental, heavily shielded grip on his slave; the young woman was once again within his reach.  
  
For the past year or so, he had completely lost contact with her subconscious, thus unable to torment her in any way to make her go after the cursed Jedi. Hence, he had watched from afar, plagued with the worry that his initial manipulations and plants had not been strong and deep enough to resist the effects of the trice-cursed ysalamiri creatures.   
  
When he had purged the galaxy of the Jedi order, the lizards had served him well to render his enemies helpless, but now that they had been used against him like this, he promised himself to quarantine the planet Myrkr as soon as he would be back on the galactic throne, on Coruscant.  
  
His true palace.  
  
And one of the ways to hasten that return was to get the last remaining Jedi out of the way, via his pet assassin.  
  
He sent yet another nightmare in the mind of the young, weak-minded woman, forcefully keeping her asleep until her soul would be so blinded by the vision of the past that the sickening influence, which Skywalker seemed to have on her, wouldn't keep her from doing her job.  
  
Once and for all.  
  
As he continued to torment the woman's soul, he roamed freely amongst her memories of the recent events, trying to figure out how the Jedi could have had an influence on her while in the ysalamiri dampening field.   
  
The first time he had discovered what 'exactly' had happened while on Myrkr, he had almost lashed out and revealed his living presence to his unfaithful, close-to-treason slave, then had remembered his grander plans and had changed his mind.  
  
Instead, he had punished her by sending her more vehement recriminations in the form of his 'last' command, then in the form of unrelenting nightmares. To add to the effect, he now even showed her variations of the events, of how she could have saved him had she been there or done her job well. More than anything else, to see herself present but unable to intervene tormented her soul to no end.   
  
It pleased him; he sent more of his hatred into the young woman's heart.   
  
When he would allow her to wake up, he promised himself as he scanned the surroundings of the young woman, young Skywalker would never know what hit him.  
  
Then, he decided, machiavellian, he would reveal to the Jedi that he had just been killed by the woman he loved. Oh yes, he cackled gleefully to himself, that would be an even sweetest revenge, and would slightly make up for the brat turning his slaves into traitors while he was with them.  
  
First Vader, now Jade; the young fool truly had a knack for piercing through the veils of lies that he artfully wrapped around his servants' minds... not to mention that he was even able to free them from those.  
  
But not for much long-----  
  
Even as he intended to send his strongest surge of hatred to finish it, he realized that he was no longer in touch with the young woman's mind.  
  
Instead, he was----  
  
Ysalamiri, he growled inwardly, aware of 'who' had just put that lizard between him and the girl.  
  
Skywalker.  
  
Instantly seeing red with fury, he focused his anger on the far away mountains that were visible through his viewport; he Forcefully slammed into them.  
  
The resulting volcano was but the tip of the molten hatred that he was now feeling.  
  
  
  
*******  
  
  
  
The moment that Mara entered the ysalamiri bubble, her groaning subsided, as did her erratic, sporadic movements. Relieved that he had been right about his gamble, Luke exited the Forceless bubble and took a deep breath to recover his orientation.   
  
He had been meditating about his next actions when his companion had begun to show signs that she was not sleeping well. At first, he had debated hard and long with himself if he should intervene this time or not, then had delicately reached out to soothe her imagination.  
  
That's when he had felt the strange tug in the Force that was pulling at Mara's mind, constantly activating the Emperor's plant in her mind. Worried by his discovery, he had withdrawn in shock, then had quickly made up his mind and had picked up the ysalamiri frame to bring it closer to Mara.  
  
Despite his prolonged experience on Myrkr, Luke was still most uneasy with the strange creatures who were nowhere to be found in the Force. To hold it, he now thought as he threw another gaze at the quiescent animal, had been even stranger, as if he himself had become a hole in the Force.   
  
However, it had been worth it, he reminded himself as his gaze settled on the top of his companion's head. She had calmed down almost instantly and even seemed to be recovering from the bad treatment she had been undergoing.   
  
Which now left only one question, the young Jedi reflected as he sat back on the deck. What had been that strange, diffuse tug on her mind? Closing his eyes once again, he brought back to memory the sensations he had felt when he had encountered the strange presence.   
  
It hadn't been definite, yet did remind him of something... Something which his mind told him he should remember.   
  
It had been cold, calculating... then it clicked! Even dead, the Emperor was able to establish a contact with Mara just like his own mentors had remained 'attached' to his mind after their deaths. So his theory had been true, he gaped in awe as he opened his eyes to study the now quiet profile of his friend. Jedis did have the ability to remain attached to the ones they were closest to just before dying.   
  
Considering how Ben had told him that his death had made him more powerful than when he had been alive, he could only shudder at the thought of what a dead mind such as the Emperor's could do now that it was dead and attached to Mara.  
  
For the briefest of moments, he considered pulling the ysalamiri away and forcefully breaking the link between master and servant before Mara had lost her sanity to it, then he conceded that he wouldn't be any better than the despot if he did such a thing and calmed down.   
  
He didn't move from his chosen seat.   
  
For a long, long time, he just sat there, gazing at his endangered companion and pondering how he could help her.   
  
Eventually, when his own eyes began to droop close once again thanks to his new tiredness, he admitted that he couldn't 'help' her by taking away the menace.   
Only she had that power, and she had proven to him already that her will power was already strong enough to hold the compulsion of killing him at bay.  
  
He decided that the best he could do to help her was to trust her in her fight against her old self.  
  
Against the lie of her life.  
  
Out of support for her struggle, he joined her in the ysalamiri bubble. As he settled in his chair for another nap, he checked the chrono. They were less than eighteen hours away from the Wistril system.   
  
And another adventure with Mara Jade. He dimly wondered if this new episode would end differently than their last one had.   
  
He was so absorbed in his thoughts about their first meeting that he almost didn't notice the fact that he couldn't touch the Force for the moment.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
When Mara woke up, she felt unusually rested and well. At first, she just basked in the most welcome feeling--- then snapped awake as she realized that she wasn't waking up from yet another nightmare.  
  
Considering the past weeks, it was too unusual to pass up as an accident. The only time she had slept that well had been on----  
  
Straightening herself in her seat, she instantly searched for the Jedi who had used the ysalamiri against---  
  
The moment she spotted his presence, she gaped in confusion. Skywalker was also asleep and in the ysalamiri bubble. Suddenly weary that they had been attacked, she whirled around in her seat, her hand going for her pocket blaster.  
  
Once again though, other than spotting the ysalamiri frame behind her seat, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Puzzled, she frowned at the far wall as she lowered her aim.  
  
A loud yawn attracted her attention back toward her companion. She was just in time to catch the end of his stretching before he yawned once again. Unsure as to how to approach the subject of their actual circumstances, she merely gazed at him as he pulled himself out of his last remnants of tiredness.  
  
When she saw him boyishly rub his hair before combing them back in place with his hands, she couldn't help but stare blankly, unsure about anything except one thing: she was really beginning to like Skywalker. Fortunately for her though, she used his checking the chrono to recover her composure so that when he turned toward her, she was her normal self again.  
  
At least outwardly.  
  
"Slept well?" he inquired simply, smiling at her.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked him, affecting as much a miffed expression as she could.  
  
Her blaster was still in her hand.  
  
"About what?" he shrugged in confusion.   
  
"About this," she pointed at the lizard before standing up and pushing it back to the back of the cabin with her foot.  
  
"oh, well..." Skywalker paused, then began once again after he recovered from the shock of recovering his touch with the Force, "You were having a nightmare again. I felt something strange about it and just thought that this could help."  
  
"Something strange?" she asked, looking down at him from her upright position.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
As Mara looked about ready to drill him right there and then with her green glare, Luke mentally scolded himself from slipping on his resolve to not talk about this until she was ready.  
  
"Uh, well, I was just meditating when I felt a Force locus around you... that wasn't you..." he continued hesitantly.  
  
Mara's eyes didn't soften; instead they hardened.  
  
"So??" she prompted him, her armed hand going to her waist, as did her other hand.   
  
"So... well," he fumbled, slowly standing up from his seat.  
  
Mara's hand pushed him back in it before she practically loomed over him from her upright position. Her blaster was still in sight and not showing any sign of disappearing once again.   
  
"Spit it out, Skywalker. What do you know about my dreams?"  
  
"They... they were planted in your mind by the Emperor just before he died," he finally revealed in one breath, then waited for the outburst.  
  
At least, he comforted himself, he hadn't talked about the remaining contact between the Emperor and Mara, nor about the images she kept seeing.   
  
Judging from Mara's narrowed eyes, then her tightened grip on her blaster before she took a step closer to him, he decided that he had already said enough to be in serious trouble.   
  
Next he knew, she had gripped his tunic with her left fist and had wedged her blaster in his jaw. Her glare was sulfurous, at the least.  
  
"How do I know that it isn't your doing, Jedi?" she asked him acidly, the old Mara reclaiming what had always been hers before.   
  
Luke swallowed hard as a memory of how close it had come on Myrkr came back to him. If he didn't do it right this time, the Emperor would win and Mara would kill him.  
  
End of story.  
  
"Read my mind, Mara, and you'll see what I saw... what I felt, and how I'm just trying to help you to not suffer anymore," he offered earnestly.  
  
For a long moment, blue eyes met green ones across an ocean of confusion.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Shocked by his offer, Mara locked her eyes on Skywalker's, desperately looking for a sign that, for once, the Jedi would be lying to her. He couldn't be right, she argued with herself. He was not reading the Force energies right.  
  
The Emperor had 'not' planted anything in her mind, it was just a memory of his last contact with her, she had been too far away from the other man for him to do anything... like mind manipulation...  
  
No!, she silently denied even as she tightened her grip on Skywalker's shirt; he grimaced more obviously as her blaster dug harder and harder in the hinge of his jaw... yet he remained silent.  
  
Willing to accept her decision about the outcome of their present face-off... because he trusted her, she realized.  
  
Skywalker, the man she had sworn to kill, trusted her to not kill him... because her compulsion was not coming from her but from her late master...   
  
Slowly, hesitantly, she focused her senses and reached out to feel the other's presence. To her surprise, she found him almost instantly and could have entered his already opened mind right away. However, she remained cautious and took a quick peek in his mind, bypassing everything he was to focus solely on what he had felt while she had been asleep.  
  
She gasped in shock and withdrew from his mind even as she let go of him. He had told her the true. He hadn't made up the images of his mind, and he had really felt something which fed her nightmares...  
  
And that something had greatly reminded her of the Emperor's Force presence.  
  
"How can it be?" she wondered even as she sat in her own seat; her knees were suddenly too weak to support her weight, as if devoid of any strength.   
  
"It seems that Jedi have the ability to remain attached to their beloved, or closest Force-sensitive companions when they die."  
  
Mara glared at him from under her eyelashes. "How reassuring."  
  
For a moment, their gazes met yet again, his filled with compassion, hers, with an attempt to remain cold toward him and his friendly approaches.  
  
"Well, in a way, it is," Skywalker finally commented. "You see, if your compulsion to kill me comes from this, then---"  
  
Her blaster was once again aimed at the infuriatingly earnest Jedi, if only to shut him up.  
  
"Even if my master's spirit activates my memories, Skywalker, 'I' still want to kill you, this is my decision, not his. You still destroyed my life, everything I had. In due time, I will have my revenge," she finished, aware that she wasn't giving herself a specific window in time to be true to her words.  
  
Skywalker for his part kept his gaze locked with hers. She thus noticed that his eyes were totally devoid of defiance or anger; instead, they were filled with understanding... and worry about her.  
  
"I know Mara," he finally nodded as he stood up from his seat, pointedly ignoring the fact that she was aiming a fully-loaded blaster at him. "I'm sorry if I upset you, that wasn't my intention. If you ever want to talk about this again, remember that I will be there."  
  
And with this, he turned his back to her and disappeared in the small 'fresher unit of the ship.  
  
She herself remained in her seat, staring blankly at the spot where he had been.  
She simply couldn't believe what had just happened between them. Even worse than when they had been on Myrkr, that she had threatened his life and that he had not counter-attacked, he had now proven to her that even her aiming at him wasn't convincing him anymore.  
  
He 'knew', somehow, that she didn't want to kill him... at least not when he was the gentlest being she had ever dealt with. In fact, even when he was irritating her, she didn't really want to kill him... maim him, perhaps, or simply hit him good, but kill...  
  
Eradicate the life out of his mesmerizing blue eyes, make his caring heart stop beating for the others...   
  
And yet, in a way... she knew that somehow, she would someday kill him.  
  
It was her duty... perhaps the only way to get rid of the nightmares which were plaguing her sleep, not to mention the harsh voice that kept reminding her of those... of the vicious Skywalker and Vader who were killing her Emperor, over and over again.  
  
Somehow, she could feel the truth of the vision... but she also knew that it wasn't 'entirely' truthful either, and that was what was really stilling her hand and heart.  
  
Suddenly Aware that her blaster wasn't of any use, she set the safety back on it before putting it away in her wrist-holster.   
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
In the small cubicle, Luke finished to wet his face with cold water before he stared at his partial reflection in the small mirror.   
  
His gamble had paid off and he was still alive, but it had been close once again. Just like on Myrkr, he 'knew' that Mara didn't want to kill him, and yet...  
  
He 'had' hurt her when he had destroyed her life. Whether the Emperor managed to force her hand or not, this unfortunate turn of events would always remain between the two of them. In the end, he suspected that she would always hold a grief against him, something that would, along with her fiery temper, make any real relationship with her impossible.  
  
He could understand why she didn't want to trust him about this, even to help her. He had, in a way, an excellent motive to perhaps twist the truth yet again. She wanted to kill him, hence, if he managed to sway her hand... yes, he understood perfectly why she was seeing him the way she did... Although that wasn't the case, far from it.  
  
He wasn't manipulating the facts on his behalf; he wasn't, unlike the Emperor, trying to hide the truth from her. He had seen her nightmare, had seen how he had made 'him' look to insure Mara's hatred of him. If she kept seeing it as often as he had witnessed while with her, and if it had been going on for five years steady...  
  
Indeed, he now agreed that it had become a dark cloud of anger and hatred in her life, one that wasn't leaving her alone... and might never do until he himself... was gone.  
  
While he didn't feel any comfort in the thought of not seeing another day, of not seeing his family and friends anymore, if that was what Mara needed to find peace, then, perhaps----  
  
"Skywalker?" the comm called, pulling him out of his grim mood.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"If you're about done, we're coming up on Wistril."  
  
Upon hearing those news, he took a second to gather his composure, then stepped out of the small space.   
  
"How can I help?" he inquired as he stepped out of the ysalamiri bubble and sat down in his seat.   
  
"Monitor the approaching signals, I'll handle the landing," she answered him, business-like.  
  
Luke affected the same attitude; minutes later, they were on an approach vector with the forest that was surrounding yet another imperial base.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
After a smooth landing which went unnoticed, they silently crept through the small forest that was circling the Imperial base. Luke's senses were alert; Mara's blaster was at the ready... and aimed away from the Jedi's location.  
  
No more time for empty threats or distrust; they were in enemy territory now and she needed him as a partner which she could trust implicitly.  
  
  
  
  
About fifty meters away from their target, they detected an approaching patrol. Skywalker jumped on a branch; Mara followed suite. She had jumped high, but she didn't master her Force abilities so she wasn't able to boost herself like the Jedi had done. However, her more able partner felt it and provided her with the missing Force boost.   
  
Even though she was beginning to know what to expect from the Jedi, which was almost anything when it came to care and paying attention, she was still shocked by his reflexive action. Still, she feigned ignorance to cover her 'too kind' gratitude. Skywalker didn't mention it either.   
  
Per unspoken agreement, they let the patrol march off in the distance before they jumped down from the tree. While she jumped straight down, her partner tumbled once before he landed on his feet.   
  
'Just another Jedi trick,' she reflected while she noticed that his landing had been much softer than hers.  
  
Her still slightly sensitive ankle had felt the impact with the ground. However, it hadn't given under it so she forced herself to walk and push her slight tenderness out of her preoccupations.   
  
  
  
  
  
Walking besides Mara, Luke noticed her slight limp but didn't comment on it. He knew that if the tough-as-nail woman had decided to not pay attention to it, it was because it was not important for the moment.  
  
They progressed quickly, silently.  
  
Minutes later, they reached the clearing and hid in the bushes. As he laid on his stomach besides his companion, Luke felt an eerie sense of deja vu.   
  
They had been doing almost the same thing a few weeks ago on Myrkr. However, he was not her prisoner this time but her ally and she wasn't aiming her blaster at him.  
  
"Which one should we take?" he half-whispered, aware that she was better trained about this kind of detail than he was.  
  
"This one," Mara indicated, pointing her finger at the furthest shuttle. "It is the furthest from the guard post over there and it seems ready to go."   
  
Luke nodded in agreement, then focused his senses a second.   
  
"There are four men aboard it or nearby. They're checking it out," he informed her as he recovered his full awareness.  
  
His gaze met Mara's awed gaze; he silently raised an eyebrow in question, wondering what he had done this time. As if aware of what he had seen, she hurried to turn away from him to recover her composure.   
  
"How do you separate them?" she asked, nodding in the direction of the shuttle. "I could only feel their presence."  
  
"It's an easy trick," he reassured her, suddenly aware that she wasn't as trained in the Force as he had thought she was. "I'll show you later if you want, but for now, let's go."   
  
She silently agreed and pushed herself back to her feet. She followed him around the landing field and to the wall near the shuttle. There, they   
flattened themselves against the wall and prepared for battle.   
  
Luke almost reluctantly unhooked his lightsaber, aware that he would probably kill with it, exchanged a grim gaze with Jade, then charged silently around the wall.   
  
While Mara killed the two at the foot of the ship, he took care of the techs who were coming out from the shuttle, relieved that he managed to knock one out with the handle of his lightsaber instead of taking his life.   
  
Between his and Mara's attack, it was over before it had started. He closed down his blade and pulled the two techs inside.   
  
  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, Mara grabbed hold of one her own victims and pulled him toward the bushes before she dumped him there.   
  
She was tackling the second one when Skywalker lifted the man's legs and helped   
her to carry him to a spot next to his friend. He never said a word, didn't even look at her, yet she could feel that his motivation was to really help her as a friend would, not just because it was more efficient.   
  
Once again though, she never said a word about his behavior. They climbed aboard the ship and checked its hold. The supplies were already aboard, as Skywalker had surmised, as was the equipment they needed.   
  
It was perfect.   
  
"What now?" he asked her as he sat in the pilot's seat.  
  
"We wait," she answered shortly before she sat down in the copilot's seat.  
  
As they waited for their permission to lift off, she admitted to herself that Skywalker truly was a perfect partner. In fact, the two of them made a good team when they were working together.   
  
And that, she sighed in annoyance, was yet another element that would scramble her brain and heart about the fate of the Jedi.   
  
  
TBC in part 4: Winding down  
  
  
  
Copyright 1999/2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
Webmaster : Skyjade(Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff won't even   
be read.) 


	16. part 4: Winding Down

Destiny at Work  
Part 4: Winding Down  
by SJ 23-03-99/2002 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
__________________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, if something is related to the spoken parts of Dark Force Rising, it belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related to events of Dark Force Rising also belong to Timothy Zhan. Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this. See my home page for more details.   
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
  
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for   
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.  
_________________________  
  
  
(After Karrde's rescue, once safe in hyperspace)  
  
  
Near the stern of the Millenium Falcon, Mara couldn't help but shake her head at the electronic mess that she was currently seeing.   
  
Solo and the Wookiee might recognize one system from another when they opened the repair hatches, but she sure didn't. As she tried to sort through the mass of wires which could no longer be associated with their original systems, she made a note to never, ever let Solo near her own ships.  
  
Not that it should even ever happen, she then frowned at her strange thought, but... she still didn't want to imagine what the man would do to a fighter, let alone a cargo ship.  
  
"Kreth, Solo, couldn't you leave that one alone?" she muttered angrily as she realized that what she had thought was the converter feed was now related to the hyperdrive.   
  
She finally identified the parts she was looking for... and gaped as she realized that they were completely fried, useless...  
  
And yet, her brain caught up with her, the ship was running smoothly, as if it had never been hit in the first place.   
  
Deeply puzzled by this impossible feat of mechanic, she inspected the unit better; perhaps she had overlooked a detail and some of its wires were still functional... No.  
  
The thing was completely out of order, and yet, their actual, functional state was undeniable. Pulling her head out of the access panel, she stared, dumbfounded, at the 'mess'. Solo had obviously known what he had been doing, she reluctantly admitted as she tried to understand exactly 'what' the former pirate had done.   
  
Then it clicked: he had cross-wired all the systems together so that one hit in one area would not keep the unit from transmitting its information and do its job.  
  
It was, she had to admit, brilliant. Even she, who had flown in more ships than she could count, would never have thought about this procedure... anymore than she would have even considered to rescue Karrde via the garbage chute of the detention block.   
  
Skywalker and his friends were truly more than she had been led to believe, she conceded while she sealed the plate once again before she stood up from her kneeling position. Obviously, the Jedi was not the only intelligent member of their group. Well, it explained more and more how the supposedly almost harmless rebels had been able to escape traps, survive attacks and even destroyed Black Sun single-handedly.  
  
They were probably all clever in their own ways. Skywalker was a very quick mind and a shrewd tactician; Solo seemed to be a genius with mechanics, which left the politics and relations to the other member of the trio: Skywalker's sister.  
  
However, even without the presence of his friend and sister, she would bet that the Jedi could give a hard time to just about anybody. He sure gave her a hard time, if only on the emotional aspect of their partnership.   
  
While they had been aboard the Chimaera, she had seen him for the second time in real action, and this time, he had had the Force as his ally. As she remembered some of the moves he had pulled while defending the entrance of the Falcon, she once again admitted to herself that he was a good guy to have at her side. She had indeed been able to count on him, and... he on her. They had simply been the best strike team she had ever seen in action, and gods knew that she had seen her share of them.  
  
Although she'd prefer to not consider this new fact about 'them', she couldn't ignore the fact that throughout their mission, she had 'always' been aware of where he was, what he was doing. This hadn't been true about Karrde, whom she had almost knocked unconscious when they had been found by a patrol.   
  
Now, she thought in growing frustration, what did 'this' mean? Why was she feeling like this for the man she didn't want to like? Why did it feel so damn natural to have him at her side, to cover his back as he defended hers----  
  
'YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!' the Emperor's vicious voice suddenly resounded, cutting off her pattern of thoughts. 'YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER.'  
  
"Yeah, well you just try," she muttered at herself and the audio memory which was really getting on her nerves.   
  
It was not as if she weren't trying, she argued with herself; if she didn't, she wouldn't be pulling herself back on her original track and would instead give in to those feelings she was having. No, she reflected seriously as she approached the main lounge of the ship, if she weren't trying to obey her master, she would not spend so much of her time fighting against what she was feeling for the Jedi.  
  
She would just give in and be done with it; she was simply exhausted by the constant inner struggle.  
  
'YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!' her memory insisted.  
  
'I know, I know,' she mentally grumbled. 'I'll do it, if only to get rid of you' she told herself--- which instantly generated a surge of objection from her more caring side.  
  
And the fighting started anew.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
Luke was still gaping at Karrde in disbelief when he heard the approaching footsteps of their third companion.   
  
The Katana Fleet. It had really been found.   
  
"I'll arrange a meeting with the Council the moment we're on Coruscant," he promised the other.  
  
"Meeting for what?" Mara inquired as she leaned against the frame of the cockpit's door.   
  
Luke exchanged a glance with Karrde; they wordlessly agreed to not talk to her about the Dark Force for the moment.  
  
"Just a little thing about how we can thank them for helping me."  
  
"Oh, so you've got a price now, Skywalker?" the beautiful red-head almost sneered at him.  
  
"No, but when help is offered freely, I never turn it down," he retorted as he stood up. "Besides, I helped you without any mention of reward if I remember," he commented as he walked by her.  
  
"Sure," she grumbled, then turned away from him.  
  
Luke for his part kept his eyes on her for an extra second, secretly appreciating her close, refined profile which was backlit by the nearby lights, then reluctantly stepped forward once again and headed for the lounge. He had some thinking to do, and the two smugglers had to talk together. He made sure the hatch closed when he stepped out of its range.  
  
  
  
Both Karrde and Mara gazed at the closed hatch for a few extra seconds before they looked at each other.   
  
"He really is quite a guy," Karrde commented thoughtfully.  
  
Mara reflexively sneered at him. "Oh no, don't tell me that you're falling for his kindness too," she commented as she dropped in the seat Skywalker had just vacated.  
  
"Are you?" her boss inquired, his inquisitive eyes locked on hers.  
  
For a brief moment, she feared that she had just revealed her true feelings, then decided to laugh as if in derision.  
  
"Me?, come on, Karrde. You know that I'd rather kiss a Hutt than feel anything for the Jedi."  
  
"Well then, if you're here to suggest that we use the current opportunity to capture him, or your killing him, I prefer to set the matters clear: he is not to come to harm until I am done with what I have to offer to the Republic."  
  
"Why? To return the favor he just gave you. He was only repaying his debt for your setting him free on Myrkr," she objected, more out of habit and need to cover up her real feelings than in real animosity.  
  
"So he told me, but he has links with the higher placed of the Republic. For the time being, he is more useful alive than dead, even to you," he pointed out as he pointed at her with his finger.   
  
"All right," she grumbled, affecting a miffed attitude.  
  
In fact though, she was relieved to have another outside reason to not obey her master's last command. With Karrde's new order and need for the Jedi, she knew that she wouldn't take any chances with the Jedi's life.   
  
No matter how hard the nightmares insisted that she killed him.  
  
"By the way, I must admit that I was quite surprised when I discovered that you were rescuing me," her boss began more gently. "After the ambush, I thought that----"  
  
"I had betrayed you? No, I never did," she stated seriously before turning away from him. "I wanted to discover the location of the Katana Fleet from you and give it to them, but taking custody of you was never part of the deal..."  
  
Even as she retold the past, a light suddenly turned itself on in her mind as she realized just 'what' was the favor that Karrde had to offer to---  
  
"You're giving the Katana Fleet to the Republic?!?" she gaped even as she frowned in disapproval.  
  
"I will sell it to them," Karrde sighed, then shook his head. "I didn't want to tell you right away, partly because I strongly suspected that you've once had imperial affiliations. I can imagine how this is probably an unpleasant turn of events for you."  
  
Yes, it was, she nodded slightly, feeling her anger ebb almost as soon as it had appeared, leaving behind nothing but the bitter taste of regret.  
  
"I was 'one' of the Emperor's secret agents," she revealed truthfully to her boss, looking at him straight in the eye as she told him her most guarded secret, now altered with the horrible truth that she had been lied to about her uniqueness.   
  
As usual, Karrde remained silent, not displaying any sign of shock at her sudden revelation. He gestured to her to continue.  
  
"As you can imagine, I was active on the field, but I was also part of the highest society to keep up appearances. When the Emperor died, at Skywalker's and Vader's hands, I lost not only the rich life of Coruscant, but my resources, my purpose in life... even my identity."  
  
"And that is why you want to kill Skywalker," her boss summarized.  
  
She nodded, somehow unable to meet his eyes at the moment.   
  
"Why did you save me then? Why not rejoin the Empire and recover what you had once had?" her shrewd superior inquired seriously.  
  
She scoffed in disgust at his suggestion. "Thrawn's Empire will never be like the Emperor's. It is dead now, as is my past. I simply couldn't abandon you to the mercenaries they have become." She paused, took a deep breath, then began: "If you want to sell the Katana Fleet to the Republic," she said, looking up at him with only remnants of disapproval in her eyes, "I won't stop you. I don't like it, can't approve it, but I will not interfere," she promised him seriously.  
  
"Thank you," her boss answered coolly, then turned back toward the main dashboard. "So what was the damage back there?" he inquired, effectively closing the topic of the past to that of the present.  
  
Grateful for his understanding, she recovered her own business-like composure and told him what she had seen in the compartment.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, Luke downed a second glass of cold water to help himself get over the nauseous feelings he was having.  
  
As it always was for him after killing enemies to defend his life, he didn't feel good; in fact, he felt quite bad. The Force always made him feel part of what he was inflicting upon others, leaving him with sour regrets.  
  
There should be another way, he thought sadly as he rested his plastic glass on the countertop. He understood the necessity of defending his life, of incapacitating his enemies to survive them, but even when he deflected the bolts of incoming fire, he was not always able to only injure his victims.  
  
In short, he snorted, no matter how elegant a weapon the lightsaber was, it was still a weapon.  
  
It still enabled its bearer to take lives.  
  
Thankfully though, it was over for the day. Returning in the main lounge, he unhooked his weapon from his belt and threw it on the couch before he slouched at the gaming table, as far away as he could from the weapon. There, he rested his elbows on the table and, lacing his fingers together, set his chin on his hands.  
  
He then closed his eyes and worked on forgiving himself for what had been, in fact, the Force's guidance. He hadn't had any choice, he reminded himself. People of action knew when they had to go to the end to see their loved ones again.  
  
However, his victims too had probably had loved ones, people who had been expecting to see them again... someday.   
  
He could only trust the Force that he had done what it wanted, not what he 'himself' had judged as necessary---  
  
The sound of approaching footsteps pulled him out of his semi-trance. He opened his eyes just as Mara Jade stepped inside the lounge before sitting as far away as she could from him.  
  
"We should be at Coruscant around 0800," she informed him while she pulled out her pocket blaster---- and retrieved its power pack from its handle.  
  
Luke nodded silently as he watched the ex-assassin load the weapon with a new power pack, swiftly reset it for instant use if need be, then she hid it back in her wrist holster.   
  
"Care for some water?" he offered her as she studied her surroundings.  
  
"No," was her cold answer.  
  
He himself decided that he was still thirsty; he stood up and got himself a third glass of water before he returned in the lounge. Mara was still sitting, but her right foot was now propped on the edge of the long couch.   
  
Seeing this, he wordlessly went back in the galley... and returned with a pack of ice.  
  
"How's your ankle?" he inquired as he stepped closer and offered her the ice.  
  
If she needed the ice, he realized that she was not about to admit it to him.  
  
"Mind you own business, Skywalker. I told you to stop fussing over me," she reminded him even as she tossed the ice pack aside on the seat.  
  
"Right, sorry," he apologized before he returned to his own seat.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
As Mara tracked the somewhat different Jedi, her senses burnt with the awareness that his lightsaber was just beside her, carelessly left aside as if he were in safety.   
  
But he wasn't, was he? she asked herself as she indulged in yet another scenario as to how she could kill him----  
  
And stopped short as her eyes focused once again on the real Skywalker. Something was definitely amiss, she decided as she frowned at his profile.  
  
He seemed, well..., she couldn't say that his features had changed since she had last looked at them, but at the same time... She had never seen him this... glum, she realized.  
  
Skywalker was feeling glum about something.  
  
As if aware that her eyes were on him, he threw a glance in her direction; she hurried to turn away before he could see her this way. Next, she strove to look anywhere but at him for as long as he hadn't turned away once again.   
  
Her eyes thus rested once again on his discarded weapon. She slowly became aware that his feelings were linked to his weapon.  
  
She patiently waited for him to talk, as he always did, but this time, he didn't. Instead, he remained so silent that she almost forgot that he was still with her when she wasn't looking at him.  
  
However, he was with her, and she could feel that he needed to talk about what was bothering her. It was... kind of like when he himself had tried to draw her out about her nightmares, she realized.   
  
On the other hand, 'she' wasn't like Skywalker. She wasn't kind like him, and couldn't show any interest in him without opening her door to him even more than it already was. And yet... she had to bit her tongue to not ask him about what was bothering him.  
  
She finally took hold of the familiar weapon and tried the sarcastic way.  
  
"Was it getting too heavy for you Jedi? It's careless to leave it unattended," she sneered mock-meanly.  
  
Skywalker looked at her, looked at his weapon--- then barely motioned with his hand and the lightsaber jumped from her hand to his. He sighed heavily as he set it on the gaming table before turning away from her once again.  
  
Now there was something wrong indeed, she decided as she openly frowned at him.  
  
"Have you," he began hesitantly, not looking at her, "have you ever felt bad about killing?"  
  
The most unexpected question threw her for a loop which almost threw her off her feet.  
  
"I guess not," the Jedi sighed, then turned slowly toward her. "How do you do it?"  
  
"Do what?" she asked him uncertainly.  
  
"Be insensitive."  
  
His answer truly knocked her off her mental feet this time. What??!!??  
  
"Why do you ask?" she tried to guide him onward even though she wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer.  
  
"I can't be numb to it," he admitted, his eyes almost shining with unshed tears before he turned away from her once again. "One would think that after a Death Star, countless battles and the death of close ones, I would get used to it, but no... Every time, it's the same thing."  
  
"Like?" she asked, reflexively edging closer to him to keep him talking.  
  
"The gut wrenching which always accompanies nearby deaths just doesn't go away after the spirit is gone... It stays with me, in me, for hours, if not days."  
  
"Because you're blaming yourself," Mara understood even as she tried to think of a way to deal with this most unexpected revelation from the Jedi.   
  
Considering all the action he had seen since coming out of nowhere, she had never even thought that he was still dealing with what was called 'beginners' jitters'.  
  
"Shouldn't I?" the Jedi inquired, refocusing his beautiful blue eyes on her. "With all the power that I can use, shouldn't I be able to fight in ways that wouldn't take lives?"  
  
"You wouldn't survive for very long if you could," she pointed out coldly.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
Luke frowned at Mara's answer. She was right, of course, and yet...  
  
"I saw you knock out no less than three men with your hands and feet, and you didn't kill them."  
  
"Because of the danger of ricochets," she answered coolly. "Besides," she shrugged, "I heard that you once defeated Xizor's HRD the same way. You could do it again if you wanted."  
  
Luke snorted at the memory of his fight against Guri.   
  
"That was a fluke. It was a challenge, I didn't have my lightsaber to back me, and it was quite simple, in fact. Just very fast. She nearly got me too," he admitted with a slight shudder at how close it had come back then.  
  
"So," Mara summarized as she stood to her feet, you think that you can't do it anymore, huh?"   
  
"I once tried and----"  
  
He had barely begun to answer her when she attacked her with a bladed hand that would have knocked him out cold if not for his swift block---- which he reflexively chained up with a shift of his arm that blocked another attack. Worried, he looked up at his sudden opponent and caught her grim smirk--- before she pushed forward, trying to wedge him in the corner of the couch; he swiftly stood up and climbed on the couch to escape her. She followed suite as she continued to attack him; he blocked yet another of her fists before he jumped to avoid her attempt to knock him off his feet, then, landing slightly away from her, blocked all her attempts to connect with him as he backed away from her.  
  
He then tried one hit of his own, which she blocked and used to pull him closer as if to headbutt him... and they both stilled as they realized what had just happened.  
  
There they were, standing on the seats of the acceleration couch of the Falcon's lounge, both slightly out of breath and locked in an intricate arm-block which allowed each of them to feel the other's physical presence like almost never before. Their eyes were literally frozen in time and space, unaware of anything but the other's presence and what had just happened.   
  
For the first time since meeting, they had connected for real. This time, they hadn't just gotten to know the other better; they had discovered an equal... a complement... someone like themselves... someone who truly understood him/her---   
  
"Hmmm-mmmm!" a sudden clearing of voice interrupted.   
  
Luke and Mara instantly stepped away from each other as they turned toward Karrde who had decided to join them in the lounge.   
  
"If I didn't know better, I would worry about having children along on this trip instead of grown-ups," he commented as Luke jumped down from the couch.  
  
"Hmmm, well, we were just testing something and got a little carried away," Luke fumbled as he turned around to help Mara down.  
  
Naturally, she turned him down and stepped down by herself.   
  
"Obviously," Karrde smiled slightly from behind his stylish mustache. "I take it that it was concluding."  
  
"Indeed," Mara nodded, then pinched Luke hard in the arm. "Now he knows that my ankle is well."  
  
"Yeah, and that I know more about self-defense than I thought," he ribbed her back. "Still, I really think I could do with more training," he commented more seriously, turning toward her.  
  
"You looked good enough to me, Skywalker. After all, you 'did' survive me,... and I wasn't playing."  
  
"Hmm, perhaps, but,..." he hesitated slightly, turning away from the amazing woman.  
  
"But what?" she prompted him.  
  
"Well," he began faintly, then took a deep breath and asked what was burning his mind. "Could you teach me more?"  
  
Naturally, Mara scoffed openly at his request before she walked away from him once again.   
  
"Ah, sure. And I could also teach you how to defeat me while I'm at it," she commented sarcastically.  
  
Luke noticed that Karrde was watching the interplay with great interest. He also noticed that Mara had just answered his request as if she didn't have secrets for the man. He deduced from it that the other knew about her past. It slightly surprised him since he had had the feeling that the woman would protect that secret to the end. He had obviously been wrong.  
  
"Well that's not why I'd like to learn more," he answered her latest barb, "but I will not insist if that's how you see it," he informed her before he slumped in the nearby seat.  
  
"Thank you," Jade almost snickered at him, then headed for the now deserted cockpit.   
  
At first, Luke felt his fresh hopes go down the drain as if they had never been, then his eyes rested on the ice pack he had brought in for Mara's ankle. Something had happened just a moment ago, something which had allowed him to finally meet the real Mara Jade, not the mask she was constantly wearing to protect herself. Well, he resolved, he would not let that mask defeat their burgeoning... whatever-was-developing between them. And the best way to defeat 'it', he reflected as he focused on the ice pack, was to show her that he cared for her. Before she had disappeared down the corridor, he levitated the ice pack and swiftly dropped it in her hands.   
  
"Take a look at your ankle, Jade. You were slightly wobbly on your right foot," he teased her.  
  
"Quit fussing, Jedi," she snarled at him without turning around... but she did keep the ice with herself.  
  
"if you ask me, you are playing a dangerous game with her," Karrde commented once they were alone.   
  
"I know," Luke nodded as he remembered the recent events.  
  
Yes, being friend with Mara was a dangerous business indeed, but it was also an exhilarating prospect now that he had seen her for who she truly, honestly was... and she was much more than anyone could ever imagine. She was a caring, strong, devoted and understanding young woman whose hardship had forged into one of the purest souls he had even encountered.   
  
When she wasn't plying under the late Emperor's influence, Mara Jade truly was a gem, as her name suggested.   
  
While they had been fighting, he remembered with an inner smile, her spirit had not been clouded by her ingrained habits; she hadn't wanted to kill him, nor had she been studying his weaknesses. Instead, she had openly enjoyed his company because of their common abilities and interests, and she had also relished the challenge of changing his mood, proving him wrong... pushing him to his limits.   
  
Now who did that... but a friend?  
  
As he gazed in the direction of the cockpit, he dimly wondered if she would ever see this latest development the way he did.  
  
He hoped so...  
  
  
TBC in part 5: Coruscant  
  
  
  
When she comes around, he's training.  
  
  
  
  
  
Copyright 1999/2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
Webmaster : Skyjade(Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff won't even   
be read.) 


	17. part 5: Coruscant

Destiny at Work  
Part 5: Coruscant  
by SJ 23-03-99/2002 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
__________________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, if something is related to the spoken parts of Dark   
Force Rising, it belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more   
sense with Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in   
the novel, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related to events of Dark   
Force Rising also belong to Timothy Zhan. Please don't sue me, it's only for   
fun; I'm not making any money out of this. See my home page for more details.   
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
  
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for   
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.  
_________________________  
  
  
  
  
  
Once alone in the sealed cockpit of the Millenium Falcon, Mara let out a heavy   
breath and dropped her pretense of a rough, miffed attitude.  
  
Just what had happened back there?, she wondered as she sat in the nearest chair   
and proceeded to remove her boot. First, she had gotten Skywalker to talk about   
what was bothering him, then had engaged in a sparring with him... and she   
hadn't taken advantage of the situation to even hurt him.  
  
Instead, she had played fair, had fought merely to prove him that he knew how to   
defend himself without his lightsaber. What really surprised her was that she   
had really, truly enjoyed that brief fight with the Jedi, not because she had   
been fighting with him,... but because she had never met someone who could   
challenge her the way Skywalker did.  
  
True, she hadn't tried to overcome him with her most vicious tricks, but she   
hadn't been lenient with him either... and yet, the young man had met her strike   
for strike, hit for hit... and then, their eyes had met like never before.  
  
For the very first time since she had met him, she had seen Skywalker's true   
self in its entirety, not just as a caring man, or an accomplished fighter, but   
as a man with his own difficulties, his own worries... his own dreams and   
motivations.  
  
She had seen the man, not the Jedi, and she had to admit that he was amazing.   
  
Up to now, she had discovered that there was much more to Skywalker than met the   
eye, had even conceded that he was a partner she would take on mission anytime   
if not for her own grief against him, but now... now she knew that she would   
always respect him as a person, not only as a warrior.  
  
The warrior, she had just discovered, would not be half as strong as he is if   
not for the man and his heart...  
  
"YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!" the hated voice resounded yet again through her   
mind, putting an end to her warmer thoughts.   
  
Closing her eyes against the flashes of the past, she propped her bare foot on   
her other thigh and set the ice on her tender ankle.   
  
And here she was again, warming up to the man she had to kill while she knew   
that, eventually, she would have no choice but to see it through with him.   
Hence, considering any other relationship with him was a waste of time, she   
half-heartedly reasoned with herself.  
  
Yeah, her gentler self agreed, it was quite a mess but she had no other choice   
but to follow her regular path instead of the unknown one.  
  
As she tried to shoo away images of a dead Skywalker, the one she had gotten to   
know, she dimly wondered if she would be able to be insensitive when she would   
obey her master's last command.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
An hour later, once the ice in her pack was completely melted, Mara decided to   
return to the galley and get some more. Whether she liked to admit it or not,   
the Jedi was right; ice did wonders to her ankle.  
  
Putting her boot back on, she carefully stood up, keeping her weight off her   
right ankle, then walked toward the galley. On her way there, she dimly   
wondered if Skywalker was still in the lounge, then dismissed the question as   
inconsequential.   
  
While she had been tending her ankle, she had decided that from now on, she   
would not spend anymore time with the Jedi than she had to. Since she had to   
kill him, one day or another, she didn't want to know him anymore...  
  
Didn't want to know who her target truly was. She already knew too much for her   
taste and it was not helping her to accomplish her duty.   
  
She had barely reached the entrance of the galley when she heard a harsh,   
grunting sound. She froze, her warning senses suddenly on full alert. When the   
sound repeated itself, she realized that it was coming from the lounge; careful   
to not make a sound, she tiptoed in the direction of the main deck, hugging the   
walls to not be detected by whoever had stashed aboard the ship and come out to   
attack them.   
  
Pulling her blaster out of her wrist holster, she bent her right arm at the   
elbow, ready to bear on the enemy the moment she came within view of him. A   
little more...  
  
A new grunt, which sounded a lot like Skywalker's voice, drifted up to her. She   
counted up to three---- then dropped low on her knee even as she brought her   
blaster to aim on the enemy...  
  
But there wasn't any enemy in the lounge. The grunting noises were coming from   
Skywalker... who was exercising in the middle of the main deck. Karrde was   
nowhere to be seen. Unable to believe what she was seeing, Mara gaped as the   
young man continued his upside-down push-ups. Since he was facing away from   
her, and that she hadn't made a sound, he didn't notice her presence and   
continued with his exercising.  
  
Mara for her part didn't move from her location, as if frozen in shock. Well   
perhaps she was, she conceded as she studied the Jedi who was now only wearing   
his trousers... leaving his back to her free scrutiny.  
  
Wow!.. she gaped once again as her eyes riveted themselves on his shifting   
shoulder blades, then his bulging biceps, which were not leaving any more doubt   
about the nature of his muscles.  
  
They were real, hard, strong... perfectly proportionate to his slim body...   
  
"YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER, YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!"  
  
'No!' she mentally objected to the thoughts as she forced herself to turn her   
weapon away from the unaware Jedi.   
  
Not like this; not like a coward. When she would avenge her losses, she   
resolved as she forced herself to turn away from the unaware Jedi, it would be   
on fair ground, and the Jedi would have a chance to defend his life.  
  
A good man like him deserved at least this much, she decided as she returned in   
the cockpit to keep him safe from her for the time being.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Totally focused on his straining exercise, Luke was unaware of how close it had   
come for him once again.   
  
Instead, he could only think about two things: his slight focus on his body to   
hold himself upright... and Mara Jade.  
  
Beautiful red-gold hair... flashing green eyes... he couldn't force them out of   
his mind, and unlike after Myrkr, he couldn't warn himself away from the woman   
anymore. She was still dangerous, of that he didn't doubt even slightly, but   
her real self was slowly beating that part of her to the back ground... making   
it possible for him to consider being at least friend with the amazing young   
woman.   
  
Mara Jade. He dimly wondered if it were her real name or if it had been given   
to her because of her jewel-colored eyes. One thing was sure though: she wore   
her name to perfection since she was as beautiful, rare... and hard as the   
precious stone. Proud to the end, as fierce as a wild vornsk, skilled in   
seemingly countless ways, intelligent, caring, loyal; she was quite also quite a   
character on the non-physical sides.   
  
Somehow, he admitted that she faintly reminded him of Leia when he had first   
known her, except for Mara's darker edge of hatred due to her past with the   
Emperor. Except for this though, the two young women were the same. Perhaps   
that was why he was suddenly feeling very attracted to her, he conceded.  
  
He had read, in more than one book, that the young men often looked for their   
mother or sister in a lover. Perhaps he wasn't any exception to this rule, he   
smiled slightly to himself as he pushed himself away from the deck once again.  
  
But attracted or not, Luke reasoned more seriously, he couldn't allow himself to   
feel much for the mysterious red-head. He could care for her, want her to be   
free from the lies of past, even sacrifice himself for her... but he couldn't   
love her.   
  
If he were to love her, he would only push her away from him thanks to his   
omnipresent care; this would then result in his not being able to help her.   
Besides, he mentally shrugged as he continued his up-and-down straining, it was   
not as if she would ever feel anything for him anyway.  
  
So, like it had been with his then-unbeknown-sister, love was impossible between   
himself and Mara Jade.  
  
It simply wasn't meant to be... although he wished he could feel more than care   
for her.  
  
With this solved, he refocused on his current actions---- and became aware that   
he was literally bathing in sweat. Blushing slightly at his own foolishness and   
what his puppy-love was making him do to himself, he slightly bent his neck and   
back and rolled down to the deck where he sat and caught his breath.  
  
His arms were singing from the efforts he had pushed on them, as were his legs   
although they had only strained to maintain his equilibrium.   
  
"Farmboy," he muttered to himself, "love will only get you in trouble," he   
scolded like his uncle used to do.  
  
And for once, he could admit that his gruff uncle had been right. Now, all he   
had to do was to not let his feelings overwhelm him once again.  
  
He slowly stood up, put his shirt back on, then headed for the nearby 'fresher.   
He dimly hoped that the water tanks would be full because he felt like lingering   
a bit under the water since nobody else would be using the shower on this trip.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
  
At long last, the Falcon reached its destination. Karrde, who had taken   
Skywalker's offer up and borrowed his quarters to take a well-deserved nap, was   
now sitting behind the Jedi as he guided the ship through Coruscant's air   
traffic. Mara was sitting beside him, monitoring the screens and audio-waves.  
  
"Welcome back, Falcon," the air controller greeted as he would an old friend.   
"Councilor Organa Solo is waiting for you at the usual berth."  
  
"Thank you," the young man said, then steered the ship toward the bottom of the   
Imperial Palace.  
  
Coruscant.  
  
She had vowed herself to never return to this place who reminded her too much of   
what she used to have... who she used to be.   
  
As she gazed around at the glassy spires, then at the all too familiar shape of   
the Emperor's castle, her mind flooded with images of the past. Her several   
flights in couch speeders when under the guise of a courtesan, the time she had   
spent within the walls of the palace, preparing missions,... her returns from   
the said missions, victorious and filled with the feeling of contentment.   
  
It was all in the past now, she thought as she pulled herself back to the   
present moment... and Skywalker's presence.  
  
Was he aware of how this was affecting her?, she wondered as she watched him   
from the corner of her eye. Did he even realize that he was still alive because   
Karrde needed him or else she would have, indeed, taken care of him instead of   
letting her drag on this planet once again?  
  
Probably not, she conceded as she refocused on the main viewport. The hangar   
bays were now right in front of them; Skywakler expertly flew them right into   
them, then over their assigned birth. Even though she knew that he was a great   
pilot, she was still slightly surprised when he set the ship down without any   
sign that they were, in fact, landing.  
  
Just like she always did, Skywalker knew the art of landing on a credit's coin.   
Yet one more thing they had in common, she pouted even as she felt the voice   
come up once again to keep her from thinking this way about the Jedi.  
  
She braced herself for its explosion---  
  
"YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!"   
  
'Not yet,' she answered it, turning away from her target to quench her reflexive   
dislike of him.   
  
Meanwhile, Skywalker and Karrde discussed about what they would tell to his   
sister as they exited the cockpit. She noticed that they left her alone, as if   
aware that she needed her space.  
  
She silently thanked the Force for their understanding, then did take a moment   
to pull herself together.   
  
She was on Coruscant, and couldn't kill the Jedi yet.  
  
  
  
  
  
Luke threw a glance over his shoulder to check on his third companion.  
  
"I hope we haven't rattled her too much with our coming here," he commented as   
he studied the back of her head.  
  
"If she hadn't wanted to be here, she would not be," the smuggler said as he   
steered him toward the main ramp.   
  
"Probably," Luke reluctantly agreed.   
  
He keyed open the main hatch, waited for the ramp to lower, then was about to   
walk down from it when a hand shot out of nowhere and kept him aboard; in front   
of him, Karrde was already half-way down the ramp. Luke turned around,   
perfectly aware of who was holding him back, and gazed straight in Mara Jade's   
green eyes.  
  
For a moment, neither of them said anything until Karrde came back and asked   
them if everything was all right. To his surprise, Mara nodded before she   
pulled him slightly out of sight.   
  
They had barely stepped out of view that Luke felt his sister's mind check on   
him.  
  
*I'm all right,* he reassured her, then refocused on his companion.  
  
"Look, I," the red-head began hesitantly as she looked away from him. "Nothing   
has changed between us, but... Thank you for helping me, Skywalker," she said in   
one breath.  
  
Aware that this was a difficult moment for her, Luke nodded in understanding.   
  
"Anytime, Mara," he reassured her, made sure that she didn't want to add   
something, then exited the ship and joined his sister who was impatiently   
waiting for him.  
  
  
  
  
Mara followed the Jedi with her eyes for as long as she could, aware that she   
had just broken one of her own rules: she had thanked him. She had shown real,   
genuine gratitude to the man she didn't want to care about.  
  
Well once did not make it a habit, she tried to reassure herself. She had   
simply wanted him to know that this latest misadventure was over, that she knew   
what he had done for Karrde... and that it didn't change anything about her vows   
to avenge her master.  
  
However, she couldn't say that she felt well with herself to still plan his   
demise after his generous assistance in a matter he didn't even have to care   
about. Even more than everything else she had discovered about him while in his   
company, the simple fact that he had helped her was making her feel like a   
traitor in his regards.  
  
But this was ridiculous. The only traitor there was lived in herself if she   
didn't fulfill her last mission which had been lasting for five years now. It   
was her duty, her...  
  
Her thoughts died in her mind as she stepped down from the ramp and caught sight   
of the hugging brother and sister Jedi. Skywalker was holding the fierce,   
feisty Princess Organa in a warm embrace while she was hugging him around the   
neck as if she would never let him go.  
  
Even if she wasn't as sensitive as Skywalker was, she felt their love for each   
other, how they would both defend the other with their lives if need be. Now   
there was a depth of emotions she had only heard about... had somewhat seen in   
Solo when she had met him on Myrkr, but she was only beginning to understand how   
powerful it truly was. Instead of being alone, they were together, standing up   
for each other... like Skywalker had done with her while aboard the Chimaera,   
she realized.  
  
  
  
  
  
Leia hugged her brother one more time, feeling absolutely relieved that he was   
back and unharmed.   
  
"I could say the same thing about you, Leia," he half-whispered in her ear,   
surprising her with the fact that she hadn't shielded her thoughts. "When I   
heard that the Falcon had been captured, I really worried about you."  
  
"I'll tell you everything about it," she promised him as she opened her eyes----   
and caught sight of the red-head woman her husband had told her about. "And you   
will tell me everything about your own adventure," she warned him seriously,   
pulling away from him to meet his gaze.  
  
As if aware of what she meant, Luke turned slightly in the direction of the   
newcomers. "It's all right, trust me," he then answered while he invited her to   
meet the two smugglers.   
  
Behind her, Chewie tilted his head as he studied the woman he had also heard   
about, then agreed to trust Luke for the moment.  
  
Leia for her part fastened her gaze on the woman who had captured her brother on   
Myrkr. She could feel that there was more her than what her husband and brother   
had told her, but he couldn't say what. The closer they walked to her and Talon   
Karrde, and the more she felt a slight shiver of worry as the green-eyed woman   
studied her in turn.   
  
"Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, this is my sister, Leia Organa Solo," Luke introduced   
quickly. "And this is Chewbacca, but I think you've met him already."  
  
"Pleased to meet you, Mara," she answered, offering her hand for a welcoming   
shake.   
  
The other woman returned the gesture; her grip was strong, she realized.   
Whatever the woman was or had been, she didn't lack self-confidence nor physical   
strength.   
  
She repeated the gesture with the man, then invited them to step inside the   
palace with her.   
  
"So Luke told me that you needed to speak with the High Council?" she inquired   
as she threw a gaze at both smugglers.   
  
"Yes, and the sooner will be the better," Karrde said seriously, obviously aware   
that such impromptu meetings could meet with delays if not properly pushed.   
  
"May I ask what it is about?" she queried, throwing a quick glance at her   
brother. He didn't give anything away.  
  
"Battleships, and that is all I will say until then," the smuggler stated   
seriously.  
  
  
  
  
  
While Organa Solo pondered Karrde's request, Mara studied the petite woman and   
tried to link the present with what she knew of her past. So this was the last   
princess of Alderaan, the rebel leader who had witnessed the end of her world   
before moving on to become a true figurehead of the Rebel Alliance, and now the   
second-in-command of the New Republic.  
  
She was Skywalker's sister.  
  
If one didn't know her, she conceded that the intricate gown and artfully   
arranged braids would fool the other into thinking that she was but yet another   
diplomat, but from the way her bright eyes took in every detail, how her slim   
body still seemed in very good shape and how her hands looked firm from holding   
more blasters than one could think, she couldn't deny that Leia Organa Solo, now   
obviously pregnant, had once been the proud Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan.  
  
She suspected that just like her brother was more than he looked, she too could   
pull quite a few surprises on her enemies.  
  
And right now, her enemy was Thrawn, the tactical genius who was at the head of   
the Imperial army... but who wasn't the Emperor nor anybody who deserved her   
respect anymore.  
  
He had lied to her... he had thus chosen to become her enemy.  
  
As if feeling her train of thoughts, Skywalker threw a surreptitious glance in   
her direction; she glared at him to discourage him from addressing her in any   
way.  
  
The Jedi pouted slightly and refocused on his sister.   
  
Minutes later, their group split in two as a droid escorted her and Karrde to   
guests' quarters to wait for their meeting with the Council.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, Leia took her brother and Wookiee friend back to her office and   
warned Winter that she didn't want to be disturbed for the next twenty minutes.   
She could feel that he was hiding something from her and was determinate to find   
out what before bringing Karrde anywhere close to the High Council.  
  
"Okay, Luke," she sighed as she sat in her couch, "last time I heard about Talon   
Karrde, he had barely let you and Han go to remain neutral in the conflict, and   
now you show up with him and an offer about battleships. What's going on?"  
  
Her brother sighed slightly, then leaned forward in his chosen seat and locked   
his gaze with hers.  
  
"Karrde has just escaped detention from the Imperials who want what he is   
offering us. We can trust him," he told her earnestly.  
  
"Not so fast, little brother," she warned him seriously. "First, I want to know   
how you ended up with the two of them and the Falcon."  
  
"Since when are you the oldest?" he asked her, a smirk tugging at his lips.   
  
In his chosen corner, Chewie equally whoofed in amusement.  
  
"Since I have a less impressive medical record than you do," she teased him   
slightly, then turned serious again. "So, what happened?"  
  
"Well," he began hesitantly, "I was on Jomark with the Jedi who had contacted me   
on Nklon,"  
  
"You did what??" she asked him incredulously.  
  
  
  
  
"I had to know," he explained seriously. "I had to check if the rumor was true   
or not. It turned out to be true... and false."  
  
"Meaning?" his sister asked, throwing a glance at their Wookiee companion who   
was slightly baring his teeth at the mention of danger for the young man.  
  
"You were right, he works for the Empire," he admitted, "but he is also a true   
Jedi... a dark one."  
  
"What??" Leia gaped, her hand going to her stomach as if to protect her unborn   
children. "Are you telling me that a dark Jedi is once again roaming freely   
amongst the stars?"  
  
Luke could only nod; he hadn't thought much about the crazy Jedi on his way   
home, but now that he was talking about him, he had to admit that he 'was',   
somewhat, worried about the presence of another dark Jedi.  
  
The last one he had fought against had nearly killed him. If not for his   
father's intervention, he knew that he wouldn't be here today. Would he be able   
to survive this new threat?.. He would be alone against it this time, would not   
allow Leia to get involved with it in any way.  
  
"Where is he now?" she asked him worriedly.  
  
"We left him unconscious on Jomark without any means of galactic transport. He   
should stay there for the time being."  
  
"Unless the Empire comes by and recovers him," his sister pointed out grimly.  
  
"Yes, although... he is not totally sane. I think that the Empire had put him   
there to keep him out of the way for the time being," he reflected outloud.  
  
"That would be the day," Leia snorted slightly before she recovered her   
composure. "So what happened with him?"  
  
"Basically, Mara showed up and asked for my help to rescue Karrde. C'Boath   
didn't want to let me go, tried to convince me to stay... we fought, and Artoo   
knocked him out with the pulse of a near hit from the x-wing's cannons."  
  
"And you went with her even if she had captured you before?"  
  
"I could feel that I could trust her, Leia," he defended himself. "Mara is   
changing at the moment, reconsidering many things she's always taken for   
granted, and she's loyal to Karrde. Besides," he shrugged, "I couldn't turn her   
down."  
  
  
  
  
  
Leia fumed slightly at her brother's frustrating compassion.   
  
"Someday, Brother," she warned him, "you will help the wrong kind of damsel in   
distress," she finished with just an hint of amusement.  
  
"Perhaps, but so far, I haven't been wrong in following my feelings," he   
returned in kind.   
  
The ex-princess from Alderaan glared some more at her brother, then relented and   
sighed.   
  
"Okay, you're the Jedi with those instincts of yours. I won't debate about your   
choices. So, what is Karrde willing to offer to us?" she inquired, coming back   
to business and shooing away images of Mara Jade hurting her brother.  
  
If Luke trusted her, then the least she could do is trust his judgment and give   
a chance to the mysterious, enigmatic red-head.  
  
  
  
  
  
TBC in part 6: Checking on Mara (after the battle of the Katana Fleet)  
  
  
  
  
Copyright 1999/2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
Webmaster : Skyjade(Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff won't even   
be read.) 


	18. part 6: Checking on Mara

Destiny at Work  
Part 6: Checking on Mara  
by SJ 23-03-99/2002 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
__________________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, if something is related to the spoken parts of Dark Force Rising, it belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related to events of Dark Force Rising also belong to Timothy Zhan. Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this. See my home page for more details.   
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
  
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for   
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.  
_________________________  
  
  
(Place: after DFR)  
  
  
Clones, Luke thought as he guided his x-wing back to the medical frigate where Mara had been taken. The Empire had not only acquired almost two-hundred ships, but now also had the ability to fill them with a trained crew within years... perhaps even less.  
  
Would Mara have known about this?, he wondered as he reached out and searched for the unconscious presence of the young woman. Would she have information about this new resource for the Empire, or would she, like they were, deal with something she had also believed impossible anymore.  
  
As he found her warm/cool Force signature near the middle of the ship, he promised himself to inform her of this turn of events as soon as she would be fit to deal with it.  
  
Focusing back on his piloting, he brought his ship into a final approach with the Star Cruiser.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
Later on, Luke was standing in front of a glass bay window behind which were bacta tanks gathered in a semi-circle.   
  
Unconscious, Mara Jade was drifting in one of them, her beautiful features almost completely covered by the breathing apparatus while her slim, underwear-covered body was barely outlined in the red goop.  
  
"She will be unconscious for a while, Jedi Skywalker," a medic commented as he stepped in the observation room.   
  
"I know," he nodded, his eyes still locked on hers. "Will she be all right?"  
  
"She has suffered severe neural damage; that kind of healing is time-consuming."  
  
Luke nodded somberly in understanding. "Is there anything I--- we can do to help her recovery?" he queried softly.  
  
"I'm afraid not. It is up to her and the bacta," the medic specified as he stepped closer to him. "She will probably stay in coma for a month anyway, maybe more."  
  
"A month?!" Luke gaped as he whirled toward the other in disbelief.   
  
"Neural reconstruction is tricky, Jedi Skywalker. However, the longer it takes, the more complete is the recovery," the other reassured him sollicitously. "I understand that you are worried about your friend, young man, but for the moment, there is nothing to do but wait."  
  
"I... understand," the Jedi nodded while he noticed which word the other had used to talk about the young woman.  
  
Friend.  
  
For the medic, him and Mara were friends.   
  
Well, true, he conceded, he was looking after her as if he were his friend, and he had come after her the moment he had been able to. Could he have delayed if something else had come up?, he wondered as he refastened his gaze on the unconscious features of the young woman.   
  
He didn't think so. Helping Mara had felt... well, like the right thing to do, the only thing he had to do right this moment. Perhaps it was his Jedi compassion, he sighed in confusion, but perhaps it was because he was now 'really' thinking of her as his friend.   
  
No matter what she kept telling him about how she would kill him, and how she disliked him, he could feel, from the bottom of his heart, that she would never kill him. Even if he always had doubts when faced with her blaster, he never 'believed' that she 'would' kill him. No, he reflected, Mara didn't want to kill him; the voice and nightmares were trying to convince her otherwise, but as far as 'she' was truly concerned, she didn't want to take him out.  
  
Careful to not disturb the healing unconsciousness of the confused and confusing woman, he reached out and barely established contact with her subconscious.  
  
*Mara,* he sent gently, *Heal well; remember that I'll be there if you need me, my friend.* then he withdrew, aware that what he had just sent had more than one meaning.  
  
While it could relate to her physical status, it could also relate to her fight against the compulsions which had been planted in her mind; either way, he would be true to his word and be there for her if she needed help.  
  
He had never let his friends down, would certainly not begin with her.  
  
He stayed with her for as long as they didn't reach Coruscant; except for Karrde, nobody else checked on the mysterious woman who had been revealed as an ex-imperial.  
  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
  
Far away from those events, another, malevolent soul checked on his favorite slave.   
  
She was unconscious, and not merely knocked out but totally, utterly unaware of anything.   
  
Not even his manipulations could break through to the woman's mind; it simply didn't react to anything except her need to keep her body functional to survive. Everything else was canalized in healing processes.   
  
As if that particularity wasn't enough, Skywalker was once again omnipresent around the young woman, and unlike his distant influences, the Jedi's healing energies were making it through to the woman's subconscious.  
  
He couldn't even stop them in any way without revealing his existence. Were Thrawn further into his conquest, he would not hesitate and reveal his presence, but the other had barely begun to wreak serious havoc in the Rebel world. Considering who he was facing, he himself knew that a turnabout was always possible until the particular troublemakers had been dealt with.  
  
When Jade would kill Skywalker, his victory would be at hand and he would reclaim what was rightfully his, but for the moment... He was condemned to wait for the events to take place.  
  
Which meant that he had to wait for his incapable assassin to recover from a minor neural injury and do her job.  
  
And when she would wake up, he promised himself as he glared at the far away stars that were the Coruscant system, she would know to obey him to get rid of her torment.   
  
He would hound her so relentlessly that she would not even consider having a reason to keep Skywalker alive.  
  
Then her revenge would be complete and a new dark age would begin for the Sith Order.  
  
  
  
TBC in The Death of the Emperor's Hand (or missing moments from the Last Command ;)  
  
  
  
Copyright 1999/2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
Webmaster : Skyjade(Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff won't even   
be read.) 


	19. The Death of the Emperor's Hand: Ponderi...

The Death of the Emperor's Hand  
Part 1: Pondering the past   
SJ 5-11-99/13 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
__________________________________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of The Last   
Command belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with   
Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (sometimes, when we follow Luke's thoughts in   
the novel, this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally,   
everything related to events of Last Command also belong to Timothy Zhan. On   
equal terms, parts of the audio drama of Return of the Jedi belong to Brian   
Daley, and parts of By the Emperor's Hand belong to Mrs Zhan and Stackpole.   
Finally, everything related to the events of Return of the Jedi naturally   
belongs to Mr. Lucas himself :) Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not   
making any money out of this. See my home page for more details.   
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
  
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for   
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.  
__________________________________________  
  
  
Place in time: The Last Command, in transit to Wayland, aboard the Millenium   
Falcon.  
  
  
  
  
After spending nearly three days in close quarters with Skywalker 'and' his   
friends, Mara's nerves were frayed and her temper was practically non-existent.   
While the company of Skywalker alone had been somewhat tolerable during their   
transit aboard her skypray, it was quite another matter aboard a ship as big as   
Solo's Millenium Falcon.   
  
Instead of keeping to themselves and focusing on the upcoming mission or   
resting, her unwanted companions were constantly talking, teasing, and trying to   
draw her into their conversations.  
  
Especially that Calrissian character.   
  
If not for Skywalker's constant presence somewhere nearby, she conceded that she   
would have already throttled the man for even looking at her the way he did.   
Since the Jedi had assured her that he had kept her true past secret, she   
suspected that the dark-skinned man didn't know that she could kill him before   
he could blink again.  
  
However, he knew 'enough' about her to understand the meaning of her heated   
glares whenever he tried to approach her.   
  
Still, she seethed as she stomped from the once again Wookiee-crowded cockpit to   
her cabin, if not for Skywalker's bright plan, she wouldn't have to bear with   
all this.  
  
As she rounded the corner, she almost collided with the young man, but before   
she could shove him back into the bulkhead because he was in her way, or to   
simply vent her frustration on him, he hastily stepped back and closer to the   
solid wall, clearing the corridor for her.   
  
"Sorry, Mara, I hadn't heard you" he apologized earnestly.  
  
Darn kind Jedi, she glared at him as she strode past him and toward her assigned   
quarters.   
  
Were he not so caring, she raged inwardly, she would at least have an excuse to   
vent some of her pent up anger on him. But no, she growled, her temper and   
patience reaching their limit, he had to constantly keep her on her toes to ward   
off his attacks of kindness and not let them influence her anymore than they   
already did.   
  
Couldn't he be just a little more like his Solo friend? Or even that pest of   
Calrissian and show some ego?.. But no, she admitted reluctantly, that wouldn't   
be Skywalker... selfless, enraging Skywalker who had saved the life of his self-  
assigned assassin, then helped her rescue her boss before saving her life yet   
again to even the balance.  
  
She reached her quarters and sealed herself in, pointedly ignoring the questions   
of the golden droid they called Threepio.   
  
Now there was something else she would take potshots at, she admitted in   
frustration. Ever since he had met her 'again', the talkative droid hadn't   
missed one opportunity to talk with her, and his prissy voice... He didn't   
remember her, but she did and just like when she had talked to him for the first   
time, she could barely bear up with it.  
  
The machine was simply more annoying than Skywalker's earnestness!  
  
Taking a deep breath to calm down and recover her composure, she plopped down on   
her cot, then laid down on it, crossing her hands behind her head as she gazed   
at the gray ceiling of hers... and Skywalker's quarters.  
  
Due to space limitations, she had to share the sleeping space with the man...   
again. However, she had yet to 'really' share the quarters with her. As far as   
she knew, he hadn't been even once in 'his' quarters since she had come aboard.   
  
Yet another element to unwillingly add on her pad of 'good' qualities in the   
man. So far, she hadn't added much on the negative side, and even those she had   
compiled were now being erased one by one as she discovered how misguided she   
had been about the man...  
  
Misguided... Lied to...  
  
"YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!" the Emperor's voice resounded yet again in her   
mind. "YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!"  
  
"Not yet," she muttered after having crushed the reflexive hatred that   
followed the repetition of her master's last command. "And not like this."  
  
Besides, one of the first thing to do to obey her order would be to 'find' the   
motivation to kill the nice man who was Skywalker. The Jedi was not the man she   
had been led to believe; she also knew that she had been lied about him.  
  
In fact, she reflected, had she not been so blindly devoted to the Emperor at   
Jabba's palace, she would have recognized the strange, unusual characteristics   
for what they were. Unfortunately, she had been utterly focused on her   
mission...  
  
  
******  
******  
  
  
  
Five years earlier:  
Hidden in the shadows of Jabba's main throne room, Mara Jade arranged yet again   
her revealing outfit to reveal as little as possible.   
  
Skywalker had better get here soon, she thought in frustration, or she'd start   
killing ogling men and scums before the end of the day. He was already two days   
late, and she'd yet to detect any unusual activity in the palace. However, she   
had noticed that she seemed to be the only one who knew that something was going   
to happen.   
  
Of course, she sneered inwardly, lowly scums like them were so self-assured that   
nothing nor nobody would get through their defenses that they didn't bother   
about worrying... Little did they know that they would be a piece of cake for a   
Jedi killer.   
  
Especially one like the man she was after.  
  
Her assignment was to kill the Jedi, yes, but by doing so, she was aware that   
she would also protect that filthy Hutt...   
  
She didn't particularly care about the sluggish monster, but, she reminded   
herself, it was her Master's will.   
  
She could not question it.   
  
Now that Jabba was done with his visitor, music start anew; Mara joined the   
other dancers on the floor and followed their lead as she waited for her real   
mission to begin.  
  
In the meantime though, she also allowed herself to enjoy this new dancing   
session while keeping her guards up, ready to react to any signal of danger.  
  
None came.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
Her group had now retired to the alcoves which were adjoining to the 'throne'   
room. As usual, most girls were flirting with the scums, hoping to make money on   
the side to add to what Jabba paid them for exhibiting their dancing skills.   
Mara for her part chose to keep an eye on the main room, as if waiting for a cue   
to dance again.   
  
As she stood in the shadows, she once again reviewed the information she had   
received about her target.   
  
Skywalker had come out of nowhere about three years ago and had quickly   
established himself as a figurehead in the Rebellion. Nobody knew where he had   
trained as a Jedi, nor when. He had no known family, but he had close friends.   
The closest one was the Alderaanian renegade, Princess Leia Organa; there were   
even rumors of them being together.   
  
Still, she reflected meannly, considering who was frozen and hanging on the wall   
of Jabba's palace, as well as the circumstances in which the smuggler had ended   
up like this, she estimated that the princess had found somebody else to amuse   
herself with for the moment...   
  
She continued her professional analysis.  
  
The Jedi's other close friend was the pirate Han Solo, who was now property of   
Jabba the Hutt.   
  
She paused once again on this element, this time to ponder what had interested   
the Jedi in such an individual. She supposed that the 'hero' was using the pilot   
for his own purposes, as was probably the case from Solo's part. Two outlaws,   
she sneered in disgust; they were undoubtedly liable to exploit each other, but   
not enough to destroy each other, although Solo was as good as dead in his   
current situation.  
  
The Jedi, on the other hand, was very much alive and dangerous. Like every   
other Jedi before him, he was wanted dead by her Master for the killing of   
countless innocent citizens, this time on Diorina. There, he had killed in cold   
blood after destroying their defenses and communications. The rebels under his   
command had then been ruthless, now showing any mercy to the innocents. Even   
more cruel, her Master had confirmed that the young killer himself had taken   
part to the operation and had used his lethal skills to confuse the poor   
innocent peoples...   
  
Even Lord Vader wasn't that cruel!, she mentally exploded in outrage. Had she   
known about the young killer before, she would have taken care of him even   
without any order from her master. Him and his friends in fact. She didn't   
know if the princess had taken part to the operation or not, but since she was   
never far from him, she assumed that she had, as had the smuggler.   
  
The woman was an idiot, she spat in disgust, wasting intelligence and talents in   
a lost cause with a crazy, and soon to be dead, Jedi. As she remembered the   
holo she had seen, she felt her eyes narrow in hatred. He'd looked so arrogant,   
so mean and dangerous on the holo she'd seen of him... He'd pay for his crimes,   
she promised herself. He would die like all the other Jedi killer who had   
existed before him.  
  
Considering the past carnage of the Jedi Order, she admitted that it was more   
than understandable that her master had eradicated the whole order; any Jedi   
alive represented a danger for the society.   
  
However, she paused briefly, there was something strange about this latest Jedi.   
On the opposite of his dark file, he had the reputation to be noble, an example   
of heroism and self-sacrifice, and he was well-loved by the rebel-affiliated   
worlds... at least, if she could believe what she'd heard in this den of   
thieves.   
  
Still, she frowned doubtfully, even her Master couldn't claim that much. In   
fact, she had never, ever heard any such rumors about either her master, Lord   
Vader, or any of the superior officers of the Empire even though they were all   
working together to insure peace and order in the galaxy.   
  
And yet, according to what she had heard from drunken smugglers, the rebel   
'heroes' had a reputation which... well, contradicted what she had been told so   
far by her master.  
  
Anyway, she shook her head to clear it from such confusion, this was just a   
curiosity she'd have to sort out later, after her mission had been fulfilled.   
  
Calling up yet another memory of the Jedi's features, she admitted to herself   
that it was a shame that she had to kill him instead of bringing him in; he did   
look kind of attractive... somehow. He wasn't as cute as the Tatooine farmboy   
she'd met and left years ago, but his blue eyes had been nice to look at...   
until she'd read the rest of his file. And yet...  
  
Thinking about the farmboy, she wondered if she should make a stop by his farm   
or not. She could bring him with herself this time, she reflected seriously   
while weighing the fors and againsts of this decision.   
  
After a minute of pondering, she decided that now was not the time to think   
about him.   
  
She had to focus on her target.   
  
She was moving to change her angle of observation when two droids slowly entered   
the throne room, following Bib Fortuna toward the middle of the room. Mara   
tracked them with her green eyes, feeling that this was something she had been   
waiting for. A signal perhaps.   
  
As she studied the new comers, she noticed that the squat one seemed quite   
comfortable with the situation while the spindly one looked nervous. She dimly   
wondered how that kind of reaction could be possible with any droid, then   
dismissed her strange perceptions as her own delusions.  
  
Robots didn't feel any emotions; they just obeyed programs, and those two had a   
message to deliver for Jabba the Hutt.   
  
Less than a second before the holographic projection materialized, she knew it   
would be 'him'.   
  
Unfortunately, she could only see his back profile and left side from where she   
was standing. He was dressed in blacks, and his lightsaber was dangling at his   
hip but she couldn't see his face. She could imagine it though: hard, cold,   
dangerous.   
  
As the Jedi spoke reverently, subserviently, she tried to edge her way toward a   
better point of view to study him. After a few tries, she conceded defeat to   
not betray her cover and settled in to analyze his voice and body language. As   
he continued to try and soothe the crimelord, she herself saw through his game.   
  
His good manners and deference were just a trick to make the other lower his   
defenses. The message ended and the droids made a show of being afraid to be   
left in Jabba's possession.   
  
That she conceded as she followed them with her eyes, was either some type of   
program she hadn't even know existed... or else the droids were somehow really   
afraid of being left in Jabba's ownership.  
  
Something was wrong there, she frowned to herself as she finally turned away   
from the now empty doorway... For the second time in her whole career as top   
agent for the Emperor, she simply couldn't say what it was.   
  
And it was once again taking place on Tatooine.  
  
  
Next time she would be given a mission on this planet, she decided that she   
would remember the effect of the planet on her...  
  
Or was it her farmboy?, she wondered, throwing an hopeful gaze out the far slit   
which allowed sun to stream in the otherwise darkened chamber.   
  
New music began and her group was called on the job again. She put on a smile   
and danced along with the others.   
  
Right, she scolded herself for her slip of composure and focus, time to work   
again.  
  
  
  
  
Unlike the previous dance, this one stretched over a good forty minutes before   
somebody else replaced her group.  
  
While she caught her breath, Mara watched the alien woman as she swayed and   
pirouetted to the beat of the raucous music. Jabba had cleared the floor to   
give Oola, his pet dancer, all the room she needed to perform her supple   
exercises.   
  
Meanwhile, the music band was playing one song after another, the two singers   
giving everything they had, and what they hadn't, in the lyrics. All in all, it   
was more noise than real music, but that was far from Mara's preoccupations at   
the moment.  
  
While she was in excellent shape, that latest spin on the dancing floor had been   
just a little more than what she should normally indulge into just before having   
to fight a Jedi. Even after fifteen minutes of break, her knees were still a   
little wobbly and she was very thirsty.   
  
As she watched the limber female perform yet another acrobatic, she admitted   
that she was very talented. She dimly hoped for her that the rumors about Jabba   
and his pet dancers weren't true, then pursed her lips in resignation.   
  
Considering the behavior of the court, she could only deduce that the rumors   
were true. In fact, it was a miracle that she had managed to keep them at bay   
for as long as she had without blowing her cover.   
  
Without warning, she found herself pushed against the nearby wall; she whirled   
around to threaten whoever had dared touched her.   
  
"Hey!" she called vehemently... to Skywalker's droid. "Watch where you're   
stepping," she whined superficially, changing tactics and instead playing the   
indignant beauty.   
  
The droid apologized profusely before he engaged in an explanation that he   
wasn't used to such places.   
  
AS she studied him from a closer point of view, she decided that he looked   
absolutely out of place in such a violent and rough place... and that he did   
seem to have a personality of his own. He was the nervous, insecure type.  
  
While she continued to talk with him, her brain worked on a way to use this   
unusual characteristic to find out about her target's plans. She tried the   
curious, trusting approach.   
  
"You used to belong to someone named Skywalker?" she inquired as kindly as she   
could.  
  
The robot plunged right in her trap.   
  
"Indeed, and I'm sure there's been a grave mistake. Master Luke would never   
abandon me to this den of thieves... at least, I hope not."   
  
"So you really think Skywalker will come for you?" she prompted the stupid   
machine.  
  
Before he could answer her though, Oola began to fight against Jabba; the   
defiant dancer attracted a lot of attention. Scums, who had been lounging in   
the darkened alcoves, came closer; Mara took it as her cue to disappear   
somewhere else.   
  
From a previous experience, she knew that Rancor feeding always excited them,   
which then led the dancers to have their hands full with them afterward.   
  
Right now, she thought grimly, she had other, more important things to do than   
to play with those men.   
  
Her target was coming.   
  
She'd barely left her spot when blaster fire was heard from the main corridor.   
Before she could even reach out with the Force and check who was there, a small   
bounty hunter walked in--- with a tall Wookiee in chains. The impossibility of   
the situation instantly struck her and she froze on the spot. She watched as   
the hairy alien strained against the bounty hunter's hold, but was held in   
check. He subsided.   
  
Mara frowned further... Where was the Wook's strength?, she wondered even as she   
analyzed the unlikely captor of the giant. The Wookiees were known for their   
strength and untamable natures. Either that little guy had more up his sleeve   
than it seemed, or else he was in with the Wook, she decided as she edged closer   
to the front rows of the gathered crowd.  
  
Meanwhile, Jabba recognized the creature by his name; it was Solo's co-pilot.  
  
Which meant that whoever that Boussh was, he was a friend of his, she decided,   
her narrowed eyes now focused on the petite figure by the Wookiee's side. The   
guy might even be Skywalker himself, she decided but wasn't that convinced   
either. She had read that the Jedi was 5' 5''. He couldn't be 5 foot all of a   
sudden, could he?  
  
She reached out with the Force and searched for Force uses. She came up dry.   
She truly didn't feel anything, not even when the 'bounty hunter' pulled out a   
thermal detonator from his hides. Perhaps he was a new player in the gang, she   
shrugged as she studied her options. One thing was sure ; this little guy was   
part of Skywalker's group. She could feel it.   
  
Meanwhile, Jabba settled the detonator/bartering problem with the new comer and   
the situation returned to normal as the Wookiee was led away. Since she kept an   
eye on the guy after he discharged his prisoner, she noticed that he kept an eye   
on Boba Fett.   
  
She made a note to find out if Fett also suspected something about that 'Boussh'   
character.  
  
Throughout the rest of the evening, she kept her eye on the small guy, even   
while she danced yet again. He himself never budged from his position near the   
doorway, nor did he indulge in any pleasure that was offered to him.  
  
On the other side of the room, Boba Fett also remained where he was, not loosing   
the other from sight.  
  
Aware that more was going on than what appeared on the surface, Mara decided to   
lay low and wait for more events to unfold before making her move on her very   
possible target.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
  
Hours later, the evening merged into the night, and the revelry finally came to   
an end. All night, Mara had stepped onto the dancing floor whenever a man had   
come too close to her, dancing until the guy would get tired of chasing her and   
go for an easier prey.   
  
It had been too easy.   
  
Now, however, she could feel that the fun, and serious business, was about to   
start. Something was about to happen and the throne room was were one had to be   
to see it. Her professional intuition was telling her that it had something to   
do with that Boussh character and Solo.  
  
Well aware that seeing a dancer among the ruffians would arouse suspicions, she   
discreetly made her way back up on the main level, then headed for the main   
throne room. On the way there, she surreptitiously plucked a blaster from a   
sleeping thug.  
  
Moving like a shadow, she then disappeared down a sideway corridor, entered the   
deserted backstage and sneaked up to the drawn curtains.   
  
She was less than three meters away from the frozen form of the space pirate, an   
excellent spot from which she would have a straight line of fire to kill her   
target there and then.  
  
She was just in time; the bounty hunter called Boussh was already there and   
approaching the frozen form of 'Captain' Solo.   
  
Her feelings had been right, she smirked grimly as she watched the other free   
the half-dead man. While the small guy strained against a semi-conscious Solo,   
she herself checked her blaster and set it on its highest setting for kill. She   
then aimed slowly, preparing to shoot her target----  
  
And froze.   
  
Had he said?: "someone who loves you?!", she gaped in shock.  
  
As if to answer her, Boussh removed his helmet... revealing the features of   
Princess Leia.   
  
Cursing herself for her naivete, Mara lowered her aim.   
  
Princess Leia, she scorned in disgust. Of course she should've known that it   
would be her in that short a costume with a big Wookiee in tow. Besides, who   
else would come after Solo than his temporary lover?, she reasoned with herself,   
mentally whipping herself for almost blowing her cover for such an insignificant   
woman.   
  
As she watched the other kiss Solo as if they would never end, she sneered at   
the thought that the other was pretending to like the pirate when she had, in   
fact, probably just missed his body. But then, she added meanly, getting the   
princess' attentions probably pleased the pirate.   
  
In fact, she conceded that he probably didn't complain about the fact that the   
Jedi was an extremely cold shoulder, or so she had heard.   
  
The princess was helping Solo up to his feet---- when Jabba revealed his   
presence. Still hidden in the shadows of the curtains, Mara watched the   
procedures with great interest. As she did so, she realized that the princess   
had a feisty spirit, something which probably served the Jedi right in his plans   
of domination and destruction; because of this trait, she foresaw that she would   
attack Jabba again during the next days... and end up rancor food.  
  
And one less dangerous fool to deal with, she smirked meanly as she turned away   
from the scene that was unfolding behind her. However, she heard the   
alderanian react to Jabba's attempts to kiss her until she had closed the door   
of her temporary station.  
  
She made her way back to the dancers' room.   
  
  
  
She had barely reached the room when she saw the rebel again. Hence, instead of   
resting from the long day, as she had first intended to do, Mara decided to   
study her from afar.  
  
The first thing she noticed was that the petite woman looked quite confident for   
someone who'd just failed her rescue attempt. In fact, she didn't seem beaten   
at all...  
  
Which could only mean that the great Jedi was coming next, she realized with a   
surge of anticipation.   
  
Well, she'd be ready for him, she promised herself as she followed the other   
women to the dressing wardrobe while remaining out of sight. Watching the   
other's reaction from the adjoining room, she smirked meanly when the proud,   
bratty princess made a face as the woman in charge showed her her new clothes.   
  
'Thought you'd be given a nice costume that would keep your dignity safe??' she   
thought sarcastically to the rebel leader.   
  
Considering that they were both women, she knew that this was a wicked thought,   
but, she reasoned with herself, the rebel was only getting what she deserved,   
and especially if she had helped the Jedi to kill innocent citizens. Besides,   
even if she hadn't, Mara strongly suspected that the other woman had killed her   
fair share of imperial troops and other people; it was well known that Princess   
Leia was a very adept shooter and fighter.   
  
When other girls came in the room to prepare for a short rest, Mara reluctantly   
abandoned her surveillance spot and maintained appearances with the other girls.   
However, she never stopped monitoring the rebel every few minutes. To her   
surprise, the other behaved like a nice child as the dressing women arranged her   
costume, then braided her hair and pinned it in an elaborate pattern on the top   
of her head.   
  
Glancing in the mirror to see the princess' eyes, Mara saw nothing but   
determination in the woman's brown eyes.  
  
She realized that she was ready for what was coming up next; she made sure that   
she too would be ready and allowed herself to rest for a few hours.  
  
  
  
  
  
She awoke just in time to be aware that the princess was being taken back to   
Jabba's throne room for her first day as his pet slave. Like all the other   
girls, she hurried to reach the throne room to witness the arrival of this new   
element in Jabba's court. While some were motivated by their mean side to jeer   
at the captive, well-known rebel leader, others simply wanted to be there if   
Jabba needed dancers while others wanted to learn from others' experiences.  
  
Hence, by the time the princess was brought up from the lower levels, they were   
all lounging in the alcoves and waiting for her arrival. Mara refrained herself   
from smirking too much as she witnessed the way Jabba forced the reluctant woman   
to sit very close to himself, then how he touched her expose skin with his   
grubby hands and disgusting, muscular tongue.  
  
Judging from the disdain on the princess' face, Mara understood that the   
extremely close contact between her skin and that of the Hutt was very   
unpleasant. His drooling also made the experience disgusting to the extreme.   
As the Emperor's Hand smiled meanly as she watched the gangster amuse himself   
with the defiant bitch, she dimly felt a probe through the Force, but it was   
gone before she could track it down.   
  
Instead of being angry, her smile sweetened until her expression was anything   
but nice.  
  
He was close now. She would soon kill him.   
  
  
  
Eventually, the Hutt finally tired of his new pet and went to sleep, keeping the   
princess on a tight leash. The whole court quieted down to let him sleep in   
peace.   
  
With nothing else to do but wait, Mara used the downtime to analyze what had   
been dimly nagging at her mind since her encounter with the droid.   
  
Skywalker was said to be heartless, and she believed the rumors, yet his droid   
was truly convinced that his master wouldn't abandon him. Who had ever heard of   
such a thing as trust and caring between a droid and its master?, she wondered   
in disbelief.   
  
She decided to investigate the matter after her mission would be over,   
preferably by downloading the droid's memory banks. What she would uncover in   
those would also probably explain why he had such a false reputation of   
goodness. Yes, she nodded to herself, that would settle her two problems in   
this mission in one shot and she would be able to return to Coruscant with more   
than one victory to present to her master.  
  
As she thought about the completion of her mission, memories of her farmboy   
returned to haunt her, tempt her with the fact that she was closer to him than   
she had been within the past five years. She dimly wondered what he had become   
since she had last seen him, if he was still as good looking as when she had met   
him---- then decided that she was tired of wondering about him. This time, she   
would bring him back with her to Coruscant.   
  
She deserved that much.   
  
With this settled, she resumed her waiting for her target, rehearsing her   
actions and how she would proceed to kill him. When it became to easy, she   
introduced variables to fool her plan and think of ways to succeed, no matter   
what.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
At first, the presence merely winked in and out in the Force, then it resolved   
into a pure point of awareness.   
  
He was here, at last.   
  
However, instead of creeping into the palace as she had thought he would do, he   
boldly revealed his presence and sought an audience. The majordomo first   
intercepted him at the top of the stairs, but to no avail; Skywalker was even   
invited to enter the throne room; that's when the princess really became aware   
that her 'friend' had arrived.   
  
Mara for her part adapted quickly to this unexpected turn of events. His   
boldness was surprising her, especially since he was unharmed, but she was ready   
for anything. She slowly rose to her feet, as everybody around her did.  
  
He couldn't be that fool, she calculated as she made her way closer to the edge   
of the crowd; his helpless appearance had to be part of his plan.   
  
Meanwhile, the court literally became unruly as he stepped into the light and   
onto the trap doors...   
  
The possibility didn't escape Mara's notice as she slowly edged her way closer   
and closer to where she wanted to be. 'It would be so easy to trigger the one   
he is standing on,' she thought grimly, 'and the rancor would make an excellent   
meal out of the Jedi.' but no, she reminded herself. She had to do the job   
herself; it was what the Emperor wanted of her.   
  
As she came within sight of the space between the throne and the crowd, she she   
noticed the confident set of the princess' features. So this is what they had   
planned, she understood as she studied her options. Well, she was going to ruin   
their plan, she smiled meanly to herself. The girl had better get used to her   
new master; she'd see a lot more of him for a long while.   
  
Meanwhile, Jabba finally awoke, that big lazy slug..., and got angry at his   
majordomo. Through the Force, she felt Skywalker's attempt to twist the Hutt's   
mind to his will.   
  
It didn't work.   
  
She herself couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction. The fool wasn't strong   
enough to twist minds. Out of frustration, Skywalker drew back his hood and   
met his nemesis face to face.   
  
She, for his part, involuntarily gasped as she saw his profile.   
  
That was Skywalker?!, she frowned in complete surprise. He didn't look that   
dangerous... In fact, he looked more like a kid barely out of his teens than a   
grown man. Surely there was a mistake, she tried to reassure herself, because   
the man she was looking at didn't look dangerous at all, nor cold hearted for   
that matter.   
  
She scanned him some more with the Force, and sighed in professional relief. It   
was him all right; the Force uses were coming from him.   
  
Which only left her one option: she had to fulfill her mission.   
  
Too bad for him, she dimly thought as she surreptitiously pulled a blaster from   
a nearby holster---- and froze.   
  
The muzzle of a blaster had just been pushed against the small of her back.   
  
"Drop it, beautiful." the other dancer warned.   
  
Mara glared at her captor, then at the young Jedi.   
  
He'd felt her intent after all and had warned the other woman. Kreth. Well, it   
was far from being over, she silently warned him; he had better not   
underestimate her for she would be his doom.   
  
Obeying her captor, she let herself be walked toward a back door and left the   
confrontation arena.   
  
Once separated from the group, two Gamorrean guards saw the women and   
accompanied them. Just as they reached the nearby stairs, a scream of terror   
attracted her attention and they all turned around to see what was going on.   
  
By the stray shot that hit the ceiling, Jade deduced that the Jedi had managed   
to call a blaster to his hand, but he was also already on his way toward the   
Rancor.   
  
Well, perhaps Jabba would be able to take care of him, she thought seriously.   
Judging from the princess' fear, this was an unexpected turn of events for the   
rebels.   
  
That was good for her own plan.   
  
She walked forward, yielding to the push in her back.   
  
  
  
  
  
In the stairs, far from prying eyes, she acted.   
  
She pulled the gun out of the other woman's grip, hit her in the throat with her   
elbow, then swiftly shot the two pigs in the head.   
  
'Amateurs,' she sneered as she made her way back to the throne room, scolding   
herself for not thinking about triggering the trap door when she'd been caught.   
  
When she reached the upper floor, she realized that something had happened. The   
court was in upheaval and Jabba was furious. The stairs on the right suddenly   
cleared--- and Skywalker was brought up from the lower levels.   
  
What?!, she frowned in unpleasant shock. Nobody could survive a rancor... Yet   
this Jedi had killed it, or so she could deduce from the talks that were going   
on around her.   
  
He was powerful indeed, she conceded as she watched him from the corner of her   
eye while being careful to not attract new, unwanted attention. She also   
decided to not attempt anything anymore for the moment.  
  
However, she studied her target's profile most intently.  
  
Hence, when Jabba sentenced him and his friends to the Sarlacc pit, which was   
some kind of eternal damnation, she noticed that Skywalker was pleased with the   
situation.   
  
So that was it, she nodded to herself; whatever he was planning would happen on   
the sail barge. Then she had to be on that barge, she decided, shifting her   
determinate focus to the fat slug who was busy playing gods at the moment.   
  
As she waited for most of the court to drain itself out of the throne room, she   
dimly wondered if the Jedi was overconfident, or if the frightened princess was   
unaware of his true powers.   
  
  
  
  
While the throng of courtesans headed for the Sail barge, Jabba slithered to his   
repulsorlift platform, pulling the princess along with him. Then, using a   
secret corridor, he flew toward his private docking bay.   
  
Seeing this, Mara gave him a few seconds before following him. She caught up   
with him just as he exited the large corridor.   
  
"Your excellency!" she called as charmingly as she could manage.  
  
His guards turned toward her; the slug did so much more slowly. The princess   
looked quizzically at her.  
  
*What is it?" he rumbled in annoyance.  
  
"Your Exaltedness? Please? I'm one of your dancers. Could I please come along   
with you?" she begged, doing her best to appear beseeching. Meanwhile, she   
reached out with the Force and tried to twist his will *You must let me join   
you.*   
  
Jabba let out one of his low sounds which she had come to identify with   
distrust. Uh-oh...   
  
The golden, annoying droid translated his answer.   
  
"The great Jabba says you are to leave him now. A landspeeder will be placed at   
your disposal. You are not to be seen here again," he finished primly, as if he   
were serving the Emperor instead of a ten-rate crime lord.  
  
While the platform was steered away, the rebel woman frowned once again at her   
before she refocused on the far away skiff... and her friends who were aboard   
it.  
  
Kreth, Mara cursed inwardly. That was it. She couldn't cajole the Hutt into   
taking her with them... which meant that she couldn't fulfill her mission. She   
could only hope that Jabba would do it for her. However, she doubted that he   
would. Skywalker had survived a Rancor... he would somehow survive the crime   
lord and his hired tugs.   
  
As she watched the receding form of the skiff, and especially the small black   
spot that was Skywalker, she debated whether to use Jabba's speeder and follow   
them from a distance or to truly leave... without her 'reward' since she didn't   
deserve him for as long as she would displease her master.   
  
With the thought of loosing her farmboy once again in her mind, she decided to   
settle for an alternative and check with her master before staying on Tatooine   
and finish what she hadn't been able to do at Jabba's.   
  
It wasn't over, she promised herself. She'd get him...   
  
  
  
******  
******  
  
...And she had, yet in a way, she hadn't. She pursed her lips at the memories   
of how she had 'indeed', gotten to him once again.  
  
It had turned out to slowly discourage her from killing him instead of pushing   
her to obey her master's last command and be done with it...   
  
And now, here she was, en route to Wayland, the Emperor's secret warehouse, to   
destroy it... to help Skywalker destroy it. Whether she accepted it or not, she   
had now chosen the rebel camp... Skywalker's camp.  
  
As she refocused on the present, she became aware that she could hear   
Skywalker's and Solo's voices as they repaired the panel that was just in the   
corridor adjacent to her quarters.   
  
Her curiosity being stronger than her wariness, she reached out with the Force   
and slightly opened her door to hear them better.   
  
She listened to them, pondering the friendship, complicity, and bantering that   
she heard in their words and tones. Even Calrissian, who was somewhat picked   
on regularly, was not answering aggressively nor vehemently.  
  
Instead, they were all laughing from the bottom of their hearts.  
  
Suddenly, an image of a smiling Skywalker invaded her mind and filled it with   
the joy of the moment before disappearing without warning.   
  
Where had that come from?!, she gaped, instantly prompting herself on her elbow   
as if to go to the man with that question.  
  
She then heard them laugh again and belatedly understood what had happened. She   
had thought so much about him that she had inadvertently touched his mind.   
  
His warm, gentle mind...   
  
Great, she cursed inwardly, now she was reaching out to him. Just what she   
needed to keep him at bay.  
  
Ooooh, she raged at herself and the situation, if only it could be as clear cut   
and unquestionable as it had been for five years...   
  
She shut her door once again and skulked.   
  
If only she didn't have 'met' Skywalker, had killed him as any other estranged   
target... Her handsome target...   
  
And if only she hadn't lost track of that mysterious Tatooine farmboy..., she   
sighed, allowing herself to venture down that emotional territory to avoid   
thinking about Skywalker and his effects on her. Thinking about the boy, she   
wondered where he was now, if he was even alive. She then reflected that   
Skywalker might perhaps know him... but she couldn't ask him that, she reminded   
herself; it would look too friendly and open doors which she wanted to keep shut   
with him.   
  
Although..., the Jedi wasn't that bad looking either, she admitted, loosing her   
cooler edge and allowing her warmer self to think too. However, the Jedi was   
far from being vulnerable like the farmboy had been, nor was he a fool. He   
would never feel anything for her; she was only hurting herself by thinking   
about such things about him.  
  
Hence, when her current situation would be over, she promised herself to really   
try and search for that no-name, mysterious farmboy who had changed her   
perception of love forever... Who had, in a way, prepared her for what was   
becoming an awkward, almost impossible friendship with the man whom she still,   
somehow, had to kill...   
  
She dimly wished that he could have a clone so that she wouldn't have to kill   
the man to obey the Emperor... who had lied to her. However, Skywalker and   
Organa Solo were 'wrong' about his planting things in her mind. She was just   
dealing with a vivid memory of the past, and yet... she couldn't deny that the   
Emperor had lied to her about the Jedi. He might have done----  
  
"YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!"  
  
She spent the rest of the day in her cabin, struggling against her opposite   
desires.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
That night, like every other night, her nightmare came back to torment her, but   
instead of a black-clad Skywalker, her white-clad farmboy was the one who was   
siding with Vader.   
  
She awoke instantly, gasping for air---- and almost knocked her head hard   
against Skywalker's.   
  
"Mara, are you all right?" he inquired even as he jerked away to avoid knocking   
her unconscious with the impact.  
  
"Yeah, sure," she waved him away, something which had become almost like a   
ritual between them lately. "Don't tell me that you woke up again just for me,"   
she sneered reflexively.   
  
He sheepishly looked away from her piercing eyes.   
  
"Uh, no, actually... I couldn't sleep," he explained. "I was exercising when I   
heard your moans, so I checked on you."   
  
The mention of his exercising brought back home the fact that he was only   
wearing a tank top; memories of the one time she had seen him exercise rushed to   
her mind--- she hurried to quash her unwanted feelings of attraction to him even   
as she pulled away from him.   
  
It would never happen, she reasoned with her gentler self, her cooler side being   
less harsh than usual.  
  
"Well it's done and I'm fine once again," she informed him, pulling her blankets   
back over her shoulders as she laid back down, turning her back to him.   
  
The message was clear.   
  
"Right, good night, Mara," he wished her nonetheless before he left her room.   
  
Once she was alone, she turned around and looked at the door which he had used   
to exit the room. What did it mean this time??, she frowned at the door. When   
she had awaken, she'd thought that her farmboy had been once again beside her,   
then she had woken further and had realized that it was just Skywalker.   
  
Could he somehow be linked to him?, she wondered uneasily--- then stilled on her   
bunk as she became aware that the Jedi's squat droid had somehow gotten in her   
quarters when the Jedi had opened the door and was now silently studying her.  
  
"What are you looking at?" she asked it irritatingly.  
  
The droid clucked something in answer; she dimly wished for the ability to   
understand it like Skywalker did. Somehow, she had the feeling that he was   
seeing what she didn't want anyone to know about: her mixed feelings toward the   
Jedi.  
  
"Get lost," she ordered the small robot, then turned her back to it once again.   
  
And now she was beginning to get delusions about reality, she thought in   
irritation. She was simply exhausted and needed a break from all that Dark Side   
business.   
  
Oh yes, she decided as she closed her eyes to go back to sleep, when this would   
be over, she would go as far away as possible from Jedis, Darksiders, and gods   
knew what else.   
  
She simply had her fill of them, and so a nice, gentle farmboy would do for a   
great change of life.  
  
Now, if only she could remember what he looked like... She could only remember   
that he had been blond haired and blue eyes. Of course, Skywalker also shared   
those characteristics, but his hair were brown, not fair, and his face didn't   
ring a bell at all, except for the face that had been haunting her nightmares   
for too long now.  
  
He 'couldn't' be even related to the other, she reminded herself, especially not   
with the most unmistakable Force signature that accompanied his very presence.   
He had even confirmed to her that as a youth, he had born that signature,   
although more diffuse.  
  
One thing she remembered for sure was that the other boy hadn't been Force   
sensitive at all. Hence, Skywalker was not the one she was yearning for.  
  
With that thought, she went back to sleep, not realizing that Luke was, in fact,   
the mysterious farmboy she was looking for.   
  
  
******  
  
  
The Emperor, who was watching from afar, delighted in the proof that his   
manipulations on this aspect of her memories had been perfect.  
  
On the other hand, he positively fumed as he was forced to realize that despite   
his best efforts to control his slave, she was now slipping out of his grip,   
slowly asserting her own independence of mind and making decisions on her own   
about absolutely everything.  
  
Even about him... and Luke Skywalker.  
  
  
  
TBC in part 2: the Death of the Emperor's Hand  
  
  
  
  
  
Copyright 1999/2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
Webmaster : Skyjade(Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff won't even   
be read.) 


	20. Part 2: The Death of the Emperor's Hand

The Death of the Emperor's Hand  
Part 2: The Death of the Emperor's Hand  
SJ 12-01-00/08-02 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
__________________________________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of The Last   
Command belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with   
Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts. Naturally, everything related to events of   
Last Command also belong to Timothy Zhan. Please don't sue me, it's only for   
fun; I'm not making any money out of this. See my home page for more details.   
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
  
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for   
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.  
___________________________________________  
  
  
(Place: just after C'Boath's death on Wayland)  
  
  
  
Just as Luke and Leia finished to cut open the wall of the throne room, the Wild   
Karrde came into position to take them aboard. Lando and two other men were   
waiting for them at the side hatch.   
  
"A little closer, Aves," Lando told someone via his comlink. "A little more, a   
little more---stop!" Next, he addressed his friends who were gathering around   
the opening. "Whenever you're ready, but let's hurry. This place will blow in   
less than a minute!"   
  
"You first, Luke," Leia insisted.  
  
Before he could protest, Lando and the two others had taken hold of his nearby   
wrists and helped him across the gap. An unconscious Mara followed him, then the   
others piled up aboard as fast they could.   
  
"Hit it fast!" Lando ordered the pilot as the others sealed the hatch.   
  
As they felt the sudden acceleration, Luke discovered that he was too weak to   
keep his balance and landed on his butt just beside where Mara had been laid   
down. Leia was instantly at his side.   
  
"Luke, are you okay?" she inquired worriedly.   
  
"Sure, I just stumbled," he reassured her as innocently as he could although he   
was aware that he was more than tired; he was in fact lucky to not share Mara's   
state.  
  
"You don't look fine, Kid," Han commented as he helped him to his feet. Luke   
dimly noticed that he had retrieved his old lightsaber from the clone.  
  
"Neither do you, old pirate," Luke returned with a tired smirk, desperately   
trying to keep his friends from finding the truth about his actual status; he   
didn't want to be fussed over.  
  
"You've both got bunks with your names on them in the medcenter at home," their   
female companion informed them as she joined her husband and helped her brother   
up.  
  
Both men groaned.   
  
'Not again.'  
  
Meanwhile, Karrde, who'd picked up his associate, stood up and brushed past   
them.   
  
"Well, I'm not waiting that long for her; she's got a reservation aboard this   
ship." He looked at Luke. "Thank you for saving her life," he said earnestly.  
  
"No problem," Luke answered warmly.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Nodding at the Jedi, Karrde walked away from the rebel heroes. He had barely   
stepped a few meters away from them when he heard something heavy fall on the   
floor. Puzzled, he turned around and realized that Skywalker's knees had given   
up holding him in a standing position.   
  
"Nothing wrong, uh?" the petite brunette scolded her brother.  
  
"Hey, Karrde, do you have an extra bunk in your medunit?" Solo asked.  
  
"More than one." he answered, appraising the Jedi's condition.   
  
"Up you go, Luke," the councilor helped her brother to his feet, then Han slung   
his other arm around his shoulder, careful to avoid his own blisters.  
  
"I'm just tired," The Jedi defended tiredly.   
  
"Then you'll be in the perfect place to rest," the young woman teased him.   
  
While he watched the interplay with interest, Karrde noticed that the Jedi   
really made efforts to not trip again and surmised that he was not in as good a   
shape as he wanted them to believe. He led the trio down corridors and toward   
his ship's medbay.  
  
In the distance, Mount Tantiss blew up in an explosive display of fireworks.   
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
By the time they found the Falcon's landing site, Luke knew that he was more   
than just a little bit tired. He could recognize the seizures, as well as the   
double visions, that were caused by exposure to intense electricity.   
  
However, although he knew where this could lead him, he kept his true injuries   
secret. He simply knew that his friends would keep him aboard the Wild Karrde   
if they found out just how bad his condition was. If that happened, he also   
knew that he would share a cabin with Mara. Even though she'd saved his life,   
he had to admit that even more than being kept in bed, the prospect of speaking   
with her now worried him.   
  
Considering everything that had happened during their trek through the forest   
and in Mount Tantiss, he uneasily wondered what would happen next. Ever since   
he had met her, he had cared about her in ways that were puzzling him, had even   
felt physically attracted to her but had managed to temper himself given the   
fact that the lady had sworn to kill him.  
  
However, that had been before he had begun to train her in the ways of the   
Force... before they had fought side by side against a deadly dark Jedi...   
before she had saved his life before almost sacrificing hers.  
  
Now, he simply didn't know how he felt anymore, or rather, he did know but knew   
that he couldn't give into those feelings just yet.   
  
Hence, he had to sort through his feelings before dealing with his friend.  
  
Besides, he shrugged to himself, she would also need the downtime because much   
more had happened for her than him on Wayland.   
  
  
  
  
A while later, he and his group exchanged goodbyes with the smugglers and   
disembarked from the Wild Karrde. On their way out, Karrde informed them that he   
also would head for Coruscant since Mara needed more treatment than he could   
offer, and his pets were also in bad shape. He also knew that he needed to   
explain a few things to the leaders of the Republic.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
Aboard the Falcon, Luke and Han let their friends tend them to the best of their   
abilities, then they all relaxed and recuperated from their latest challenge.   
What they didn't realize though, until too late, was that Luke's condition was   
worst than he was letting them think.   
  
Two days before reaching Coruscant, and four since leaving Wayland, Leia and Han   
awoke and found that their friend was unconscious and bathing in sweat.   
  
When they reached home, they rushed him to the medcenter where he was dumped in   
a bacta tank.   
  
Not surprisingly, the same thing had happened to Mara.   
  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
When Mara's senses returned to her, they did so slowly, without rushing   
anything.   
  
First, she became aware that she was in a bed, then she opened her eyes and saw   
that she was in a medical unit. She recognized the imperial layer which then led   
her to remember the most recent events. She thus confirmed with herself that   
she was back on Coruscant.   
  
That simple acceptance woke her up completely, but she closed her eyes again as   
tiredness reclaimed her. Oh well, she shrugged inwardly, given her weakened   
status, it would be easier to think that way anyway. Her first thought was that   
her actual status was very bothering in itself.   
  
Much like the whole situation in fact, she then sighed as she began to consider   
absolutely 'everything' that had taken place throughout the past months.  
  
Now why hadn't she stirred away from Skywalker's X-wing and stay out of the NR   
business?!, she scolded herself after her first thoughts. She had been   
perfectly happy---   
  
And now she was lying to herself, she admitted truthfully as the rest of the   
events entered her conscious mind.   
  
She hadn't been happy when she had met Skywalker for the first time; she'd been   
miserable, lonely, and enchained in the worst kind of a way.   
  
As those realizations settled in her murky brain, she felt her temper mellow   
until she was ready for what she was facing now that she was free from her   
chains.   
  
She had to stop acting like the ex-Emperor's Hand, she decided. She was free   
now... free to think and feel.   
  
Cautiously, she explored her real feelings.   
  
Thus, she discovered that unlike the last time she'd awoken in this medcenter,   
she wasn't filled with hatred and despise for the people who were tending her;   
this time, she was confused, something which had become quite customary   
recently.   
  
And all that thanks to Skywalker, she sighed in annoyance. The man who had   
destroyed her life--- but also the man whom she'd saved and who had saved her   
life again.   
  
She pursed her lips at that thought before another thought followed it,   
mellowing her mood yet again.   
  
Skywalker was also the man who'd helped her to free herself from her slaver's   
hold. He was also the man who'd become her only true friend... For better or   
worse though, she couldn't say yet.   
  
She sighed loudly, then started when she became aware that he might be in the   
same room than her. She opened her eyes and looked around herself; she was   
alone. She sighed again, this time in relief.   
  
Much to her surprise, she then instinctively yet cautiously reached out and   
found his warm presence just on the other side of the wall. She realized that   
he too was in bad shape; unlike her, he was still unconscious.   
  
As she broke the contact, she wondered why it had been so important for her to   
check on him in the first place. It wasn't like she cared about him, she tried   
to reason, nor that he was in danger, and she knew that she would see him before   
long, much to her annoyance. He simply had a knack to be ever-present around   
her.   
  
Now that she'd helped them so much, she guessed that she'd see him even more   
than before.   
  
Just great.   
  
Or was it?... Skywalker had shown her more compassion and kindness than anybody   
had ever bothered to show her, and that despite the fact that she had told him   
that she would kill him... although she had never been able to be true to her   
word.   
  
But then, her gentler side reminded her cooler one, he was kind, compassionate,   
earnest, powerful, great,... handsome---- And she was going to see more of him   
now that the crisis was over?! she asked herself.  
  
She fumed in irrational frustration. What surprised her though was that when   
she searched her feelings, the prospect of seeing him again didn't irate her as   
much as she was pretending that it was...   
  
She turned on her side and closed her eyes again and continued her analysis of   
the situation.   
  
Now that the dark episode was over, she was free to get out of there, out of   
this confusing and too complex situation, and that was exactly what she was   
going to do once those torture droids and their assistants would let her out.   
  
She closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep because she really didn't feel   
like exploring further her relationship with Skywalker right about now, nor   
ever.   
  
As memories of what had been done to her, she resolved that no other Jedi would   
ever manipulate her again. Never ever. And considering how the Jedi had been   
affecting her since their first meeting... she estimated that he was a danger   
she didn't want to deal with at the moment.  
  
What she needed was to strengthen herself.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
  
In the adjoining room, Luke and Han were slowly recovering from their respective   
treatments. The moment that Luke had awakened, Leia had naturally scolded her   
brother for hiding his status, as had Han despite his semi-conscious state.   
  
Luke knew that he should have told them about it, but he also knew that they   
wouldn't have been able to do anything about it anyway. When they had asked for   
proof, he had reminded them that Mara's state had also degenerated like he had   
in spite of Karrde's tending.   
  
Mara..., he thought warmly. Now that his head wasn't filled with pain, he could   
think clearly about her and what could happen next.   
  
She'd broken free of the last bonds of her slavery, but from what he knew of   
her, of her pride, he admitted that it wouldn't mean that she'd have forgiven   
him for destroying her life.   
  
Hence, he could only hope that she wouldn't want to kill him anymore. He would   
accept her decision to never like him if she so choose, but he himself liked her   
very much when she was cool yet friendly with him, he smiled slightly.   
  
"Wouldn't be thinking about a certain red-head, now, would you?" Han teased from   
his bed which was on the other side of the room.   
  
"Why would I?" he asked the other innocently.   
  
"Why indeed?" Han smiled, as if seeing something which Luke couldn't see nor   
sense.   
  
"What is this supposed to mean?" he asked, propping himself on his elbow.   
  
Han gave him that 'come on' look. "You seemed to be pretty close at the end of   
our little trek," he commented playfully.   
  
Luke rolled his eyes to Han's suggestion. "Han, buddy, I don't think you know   
the lady that well. Mara doesn't like me, she barely bears my presence around   
her."   
  
"Wasn't Leia exactly like that with me?.."   
  
"That's different; Leia has never been obsessed with killing you," Luke pointed   
out seriously although he too had made the parallel between the women before.  
  
"Perhaps, but people change," the ex-smuggler shrugged slightly.  
  
Luke nodded in agreement. "I know..."   
  
But he also knew that Mara would never change as much as Leia or Han had   
changed; his new friend might loose her dark sided personality, but certainly   
not her pride nor independence.   
  
The door of the room opened and medics came in. While they ran tests on him,   
Luke considered asking for news concerning his friend.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
Now that she was better rested and almost recovered, Mara Jade, ex-Emperor's   
Hand, took the time to consider her future, objectively this time.   
  
One thing was sure, she conceded seriously, the Empire wasn't part of it. On the   
other hand, she couldn't conceive the possibility of joining the New Republic...   
yet.   
  
Working with Karrde would be quite challenging, in its own way, but she would   
bet that the New Republic wasn't about to let him off the hook that easily. His   
group would probably be involved with them for a while...   
  
Did she want that?, she wondered seriously.  
  
Her first impulse was to say no, but then, an unbidden memory of her last time   
with Skywalker made her reconsider her decision. While she didn't want to spend   
all her waking hours with him either close or around her, she couldn't say that   
she never wanted to see him again either.   
  
Despite all his faults and irritating characteristics, the Jedi 'was' a great   
man.   
  
After all, she reminded herself, he had meant to sacrifice his life for hers   
back on Wayland... All she had ever shown him had been scorn and hatred, and yet   
the Jedi had been on the edge of making the ultimate sacrifice for her sake.   
  
She shook her head at the thought of his boundless selflessness. She simply   
couldn't turn her back to him; she had to at least thank him. Besides, she   
remembered, he hadn't just sacrificed himself, he had saved her life, body and   
soul. Now, nobody had ever done that much for her, nor had she ever even   
imagined that anybody would ever bother.   
  
She used to hate that man, true, and he'd known it, but it hadn't stopped him   
from helping her as much as he could. He had also given her something she'd   
never had before: a friend. And a gorgeous friend at that...   
  
She growled inwardly as she felt the turn of her thoughts. It just wasn't   
possible, she argued yet again with herself.   
  
She couldn't possibly feel as attracted to Skywalker as she did to her   
mysterious farm boy from Tatooine. Perhaps she was just surrogating the lost   
boy by a look-alike, she reasoned.   
  
She came back on track, weighting the for and against.   
  
Against: the Jedi had the frustrating habit to be earnest, which was always   
making her loose her cool.   
  
Mara Jade never lost her cool. Period.   
  
She knew what she wanted to be: a free person, a business woman. She knew that   
being with Skywalker would not help her reach these goals. In fact, she might   
even still kill him if he kept pushing her buttons, and yet...   
  
He was also intriguing enough for her to hope for a few occasions to see him   
again, from time to time. Besides, he was quite interesting to look at...   
especially his eyes. And now that she didn't want to kill him anymore---   
  
She stopped in shock as she became aware that she really didn't want to kill him   
anymore. She had grown so used to this thought, to this compulsion that she had   
never thought otherwise... And now she was truly free; she could think for   
herself even in this regard!   
  
And she knew who she had to thank for that.   
  
She was musing some more when her door swished open. She raised her head to   
look at her visitor and did a mental double-back at her unexpected visitor.   
  
"Hello, Mara. How are you?" Leia Organa Solo asked solicitously.   
  
"I'm better."   
  
"I'm glad."   
  
The petite woman stood by the side of the bed. Mara remained in her rocking  
chair.   
  
"How are the others?" she asked, surprising herself with her worry for the other   
men.   
  
Where had her self-control and coolness gone for star's sake?!, she mentally   
gaped.   
  
"They're better. We feared for Luke for a while, but everybody is recovering   
nicely now."   
  
"Good," she nodded, not trusting herself to say more. The mention of loosing   
Skywalker had strangely affected her... and she didn't particularly like that   
feeling.  
  
"I came here to thank you for your help in this matter, Mara. We couldn't have   
done it without you," the diplomatic woman stated seriously.  
  
"I'm also glad I did it," Mara muttered.   
  
"Why did you do it, Mara? You didn't have to."   
  
Mara smirked at that. "Really? Your brother didn't really give me a choice."   
  
"But you could still have told him off," Organa Solo pointed out.  
  
"Sure... I guess I didn't like the idea of clones running around the galaxy. And   
I certainly didn't want to see C'Boath installing himself as Emperor."   
  
The galaxy had had enough of one, she thought grimly as she made yet another   
parallel between the two darksiders.   
  
"Luke's told me that you've broken free of his manipulations," the other   
informed her warmly.   
  
"Oh he did, did he?" Mara asked, narrowing her eyes into their usual slits.   
  
"He didn't mean to upset you, Mara," Organa Solo reassured her. "I think that he   
was happy for you."   
  
"Oh," the red-head nodded fractionally, unsure as to how to take this answer.  
  
"Have you thought about what's next for you?" the other inquired somewhat more   
seriously.  
  
Mara studied the politician with a wary gaze. Leia Organa Solo hadn't just come   
here to thank her. She wanted something else.   
  
"A bit, why?"   
  
"When you will be let out of the medcenter, I think you should come by my   
office. Something has come up, and I think that it will interest you," the   
brunette finished with a mystical smile.  
  
Mara's eyebrow shot up in puzzlement.   
  
"I will let you rest now, Mara. Thank you again."   
  
"No problem," she answered mechanically while she tried to figure out what the   
other woman now had in mind.  
  
Last time she'd seen her, she'd ended up being broken out of detention by   
Skywalker and company. She only hoped that the new offer wouldn't involve mad   
Jedis and clones, and especially not Skywalker... She also hoped that it would   
give her a chance to use her combat skills.   
  
Even if she wasn't quite back on her feet, she reflected that she needed some   
action. Her time in the medcenter was driving her stir-crazy.   
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
The next day, the medic gave her the permission to leave.   
  
She stood in the corridor for a long time, arguing with herself whether she   
should see 'him' or delay this meeting.   
  
Yes, she was free, but she was also growing aware that she had no experience on   
how to deal with this freedom, especially the one concerning her feelings about   
him.   
  
It had been easy to deny the weird attraction with her hatred, but now... Aw,   
Kreth, she scoffed at herself. She'd just killed a dark Jedi and had survived   
another's manipulations. She had also survived a meeting with his sister. She   
could do it.   
  
She entered the room.   
  
The Jedi was sitting on a bed, reading a datapad. As her eyes rested on his   
form ---- she froze in surprise, caught unprepared. He was bare torso once   
again, and looking even better than he had aboard the Falcon.   
  
She hurried to cover her reaction when she realized that he was raising his head   
to see her.   
  
"Can I come in?" she asked him as coolly as she could.   
  
His eyes seemed to lit up when he saw her. "Mara! Hi! How are you?"   
  
"I could ask you the same thing," she answered, awkwardly returning the smile.   
  
Now that she was facing him, and that she was standing close to him, she   
couldn't deny that he truly had a physical effect on her. She was just glad that   
Solo wasn't there to witness any betraying reaction.   
  
Luke smiled back at her. "Right. So, how are you?"   
  
"Fine, thanks to you."   
  
"And I, to you," he smiled.   
  
"Stop that, Skywalker."   
  
"Stop what?" he asked innocently.   
  
"Diverting the conversation on me. I came here to thank you," she told him in   
slight irritation.  
  
"Mara-"   
  
She sighed in frustration. He was so selfless sometimes, she grumbled inwardly.  
She decided to plunge in and told him what she wanted to tell him before   
becoming too angered to be nice about it.   
  
"Skywalker, you did not only save my life, but you also gave me back my soul...   
You didn't have to, but you helped me... like a friend would... so... I want you   
to know that I am grateful for your help."   
  
She cast down her gaze as the weight of her words registered in her mind.   
Friend, she had really said it... had really recognized him as a friend.  
  
"No thanks are necessary, Mara, but you're welcome."   
  
She looked back up, mildly surprised.   
  
Luke continued. "I am glad to see you well and at peace with yourself."   
  
She nodded slightly. "Yes, well, it's been a long time coming," she smiled   
softly.  
  
The longer she looked at him, and the more she slowly became aware that were he   
to lean toward her, she'd kiss him with all her suddenly-allowed-to-live   
passion. She caught herself in shock, then added that she wished he would make   
that move; it angered her further. As she dealt with those completely   
irrational thoughts, she wondered how she was managing to keep her furious blush   
from showing up at all.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
Luke, for his part, didn't notice the struggle of his companion since he was   
absorbed in similar improper thoughts.   
  
He'd never been aware of his true, secret feelings before, but now, he had to   
admit that he was getting infatuated with his friend. Her luxuriant hair was   
literally beckoning him like a bait would a prey.   
  
As he lost himself in her mesmerizing sight, he wished from the bottom of his   
heart that they had met under other circumstances.   
  
When the silence lasted for too long though, he realized that he had to say   
something or she would begin to suspect something... and wouldn't like his   
attitude.  
  
Hence, he said the first thing that came to mind.   
  
"I'd like to thank you too."   
  
  
  
  
  
Unaware that Luke was watching her, Mara had engrossed herself in a discreet   
study of his well-lit face.   
  
She was busy wondering about his scars on his right cheek when she became aware   
that he had spoken to her.   
  
She hurried to come back to reality.   
  
"What did you say?" she inquired, having only heard noises.   
  
"I said I'd like to thank you too."   
  
"For what?" she asked, puzzled.   
  
What had she done for him?.. except killing his clone of course.   
  
A short silence followed, then he answered: "For not killing me."   
  
Oh Kreth!, Mara winced inwardly. He had to bring that up...   
  
"Well," she fumbled in turn, averting his eyes as she searched for a reason   
which wouldn't betray 'why' she had not killed him. "Your heroics stilled my   
hand," she finally shrugged as if it were inconsequential. 'And your eyes,' she   
added silently before refocusing on him.   
  
Those eyes, which she was beginning to know very well, were now looking at her   
with slight doubt. Uh-oh, she winced once again, he was not buying it...  
  
"and..," she added while thinking furiously to come up with a more valid excuse.   
"I'd never killed a nice person before. All my victims were contemptible."   
  
"I see..." her companion nodded slowly, as if pondering her unusual behavior.  
  
Mara began to feel a tingly sensation at the nape of her neck when the Jedi   
looked at her as if he could see right through her. Uh-oh... had she said too   
much?.. She tried once again to cover her real reasons.   
  
"And, you know, you saved my life early on in our misadventures, helped me with   
the nightmares, and even trained me even though I was still threatening you...,"   
she finished, giving him a shrew gaze as she considered her own words.  
  
Skywalker noticed it; he shrugged in confusion. "What?"  
  
"Why did you do it?" she inquired seriously--- and was answered by a shy blush   
that crept up from the man's bare torso to his cheeks.   
  
It was her turn to discover how handsome he could be when he was himself.  
  
"I... don't really know," he began with another shrug of his strong shoulders.   
"Perhaps because I never abandon anybody without trying to help him or her," he   
commented thoughtfully, then chuckled as if remembering some incidents due to   
this trait of his. "It's gotten me into trouble a couple of times," he smiled   
ruefully.   
  
That new look caught her unprepared once again, but this time, her surprise went   
further than admitting that Skywalker was really handsome. This time, his   
boyish look reminded her a lot... of her farm boy... For the first time since   
meeting with the Jedi, she could even admit that he was as cute as the other had   
been. She mentally shook herself to get rid of the misleading idea; Skywalker   
was not the farm boy of Tatooine, she had already ascertained this.  
  
She refocused on their exchange.  
  
"Like aboard the Death Star?" she asked teasingly as she remembered the one   
rescue she knew most about.   
  
"Yeah, but it was worth it."   
  
"And what about me?" she asked, slightly worried about which answer he would   
give her.  
  
"It was worth it too," he reassured her, then turned serious. "You saved me   
twice on Wayland, Mara---."   
  
"Thanks to your lessons-" she interrupted his attempt to thank her again.   
  
"And to your former training," he commented. "If you hadn't been so skilled and   
determinate, we wouldn't be here now," he finished earnestly.   
  
While this trait of his personality exasperated her, it was not as it used to   
be. She stared at him, miffed that he would try to make her the hero of this   
adventure----- when something occurred to her.   
  
"Is it why you trained me? Because you'd foreseen what I would have to do?"   
  
He smiled softly. "No, but it felt like the right thing to do, so I followed my   
feelings."   
  
She nodded in understanding. Feelings, of course she should have known; ever   
since she had begun to listen to him, he had insisted a lot on her following her   
feelings...   
  
"And you've helped me to get rid of the Voice. If I hadn't been ready for this   
fight..."   
  
She might still be plagued by it, she conceded somberly.  
  
"I wish I had discovered about it sooner," Skywalker commented gently in the   
silence.   
  
Mara looked at him once again and searched his eyes; while she knew that he had   
seen her nightmares, she still didn't know how he'd found out about the   
persisting voice... She hadn't told him about that at all...  
  
"I wouldn't have been ready to listen to you," she finally informed her friend.   
"Even when you discovered the truth about the nightmares, I didn't listen to   
you... Not yet anyway.... It was a living hell," she finished in barely a   
whisper.  
  
Luke listened attentively, indicating his understanding with nods.   
  
"If only I had known-" he began.  
  
Mara looked at him solicitously. "How would you have known, Skywalker? Nobody   
knew except me, until you figured 'everything' out."   
  
"Right."   
  
A silence followed that admission, leaving Mara with the feeling that it was up   
to her to start a new topic. She admitted to herself that she knew what they   
could talk about, but she hesitated before opening it. She hadn't found the   
answer to her question by herself, which frustrated her, and she could feel that   
Luke would be able to help her, but she also suspected what his answer would   
be... and wasn't convinced that she wanted to hear it from him.   
  
In the end though, she gathered her courage and asked him: "What do we do now?".  
  
His answer was as she expected it to be, but the extent of it surprised her.   
  
"We could at least continue your training. You have a lot of potential, and   
you've done extremely well up-to-now."   
  
"Me? Potential? I thought that I was only sensitive to the Force?!" she gaped in   
utter disbelief.  
  
Skywalker shook his head. "No, if you wish, you can become a fully trained Jedi   
Knight... I... guess the Emperor didn't want you to," her friend finished   
glumly.  
  
Of course, Mara nodded in agreement. If the fiend had manipulated her about   
Skywalker and her uniqueness, then he had undoubtedly done so from the   
beginning, starting with her abilities.   
  
"Probably..." she agreed, feeling strangely distant. "I had no intention to   
become a Dark Jedi like Vader either. I guess that's why he restrained my   
training." She met the Jedi's gaze. "He even took the Force away from me when he   
died, you know? And you... gave it back to me..." she realized even as she   
focused slightly and felt the energy of the Force inhabit her soul once again.  
  
And for the first time in years, she could feel that it would always be with   
her. The young man told her that she was welcome, then a silence stretched   
between them. Mara used it to consider his proposition from all angles.   
  
In the end, the answer was easy and for her own benefit.   
  
"Yes, I'd like to continue my training... for a while at least. But," she   
warned, suddenly furrowing her brows and planting her fists on her hips. "I'm   
not going to call you 'Master'."   
  
Skywalker's reaction totally surprised her: he laughed.   
  
  
  
  
  
Luke couldn't help it. He burst into uncontrollable laughter. It had never even   
crossed his mind that she would call him anything special if he taught her. He   
finally quieted down.   
  
"I wouldn't want you to call me that; it wouldn't be right," he reassured her.   
  
She kept her hands on her curved hips. "Oh, then what do I call you?" the   
mesmerizingly beautiful young woman inquired with sarcasm.  
  
"You can call me whatever you like, as long as it doesn't break your serenity."   
He offered her his hand. "Deal?" he asked as he gazed straight into her jewel   
eyes which were now freed from the pain they had hidden for too long.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
When he offered her his hand, she dimly noticed the faint scars that were   
adorning his arms and chest. She instantly wondered where they were coming from   
and reflected that it would be interesting to compare their origin with the   
origin of hers. A second later, she firmly took his hand in hers.   
  
"Deal, Skywalker."   
  
The moment she touched him, a nearly-overwhelming electricity coursed through   
her whole body, making her tingly with desire. She suddenly had the irresistible   
urge to pull him to herself and capture his lips in an hungry kiss---- She   
hurriedly broke the physical touch. The urge disappeared.   
  
There hadn't been anything romantic in it, she reflected, just an overwhelming   
physical need. She also admitted that normally, she would have given in, but   
not with him. She wanted to respect him.   
  
She made a note to not touch him too often.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, Luke was as shocked as Mara was, even if he wasn't aware of her   
feelings. He'd never thought that a simple handshake could be that electrifying.   
While they had been holding hands, he had been aware of her like never before---  
and her hand had felt extremely good in his.   
  
He shook his head, almost imperceptibly. Why was he suddenly feeling this   
attracted to her? Sure, she was beautiful, even captivating when considered as   
a whole, body and soul, but even so, he didn't consider more than friendship   
with her. Besides, he reminded himself, falling in love with Mara wouldn't be a   
good idea since it the feeling wouldn't be mutual; a few days ago, he reminded   
himself seriously, she had still wanted to kill him.   
  
As he thought back to their first meeting, he felt a new blush creep up his   
cheeks as he became aware that, whether he wanted it or not, he had fallen for   
her the moment he had seen her. With her blaster aimed at him, she had looked   
unlike any other woman he had ever seen before... and it had attracted him like   
a moth to the flame...  
  
Had he been alone at the moment, he reflected that he would fling his arms at   
the sky in frustration. He was simply always attracted to the wrong women:   
first, his sister, then a senator who had religious restrictions, and now,   
someone who'd written a book about how to kill him the most efficient way.   
  
Would he ever learn?, he asked himself sarcastically.  
  
  
  
  
While Luke debated his experiences with women, Mara recovered from their touch   
and noticed that he was also silent, probably to respect her, she reflected.   
  
She decided to conclude the visit as soon as possible before her body did   
something that she'd regret.   
  
"So, when do we start?" she prompted him.  
  
"As soon as you're ready." Luke answered, focusing back on her.   
  
Mara couldn't help but smirk at that. "Once you're out of the medcenter of   
course." she pointed out.   
  
The face he made was priceless.   
  
"Uh, yeah," he nodded sheepishly.   
  
"Why are you still here anyway?"   
  
Surely he hadn't been in worse shape than she had been, she reflected seriously.   
However, as she noticed a new blush creep up his jaw, she considered the   
possibility that she was wrong.  
  
However, she was adamant about one thing: Skywalker really looked very boyish   
and cute when he was blushing.  
  
"Uh... Well, I'm waiting for my last check-up," he explained as he averted her   
eyes and distractedly scratched his neck. "Since I'm known as a regular in the   
medcenter, they don't let me off the hook without making sure that I'm truly   
recovered," he finished with a sigh of frustration.  
  
It made him that more endearing; her reaction irritated her once again. She had   
to get out of here!, she thought, yet couldn't restrain her amused comment.   
  
"Why? Farmboy has been bad in the past?"   
  
  
  
  
  
  
Surprised by her choice of moniker, Luke quickly refocused on her; he noticed   
her amused expression, then how her contained mirth made her look even more   
radiant and enrapturing than she already was. He decided that he liked her   
moniker and wouldn't complain about it. In fact, it liked it even better to   
'Jedi' or 'Kid'.   
  
"Uh, well, sometimes I've had to come back... after collapsing in the   
corridor..." he admitted ruefully.  
  
To his surprise... and delight, Mara chuckled, something which he had never seen   
her do before.   
  
"Your trick backfired on you?" she teased him mercilessly.  
  
"I know, no need to rub it in," he answered mock-grumpily.   
  
However, he was far from being upset at her; instead, he wanted to make her   
pleasure last.  
  
She deserved all the fun she could have, and more.  
  
"Well then, take it easy, Farmboy," she commented with a smirk. "I wouldn't   
want that to happen while we fight. Sure wouldn't want to end up killing you   
because you had a relapse," she pointed out mock-seriously.  
  
"Right," he nodded, slightly saddened by the fact that she was already leaving   
yet knowing better than to try and keep her any longer than she wanted to.  
  
"Now, I'm going to meet your sister. She told me that she had a proposal for   
me," she informed him before raising an eyebrow in inquiry: "Any idea?"   
  
"Nope," he smiled, elated at the prospect that Leia and Karrde's idea of a   
smuggler alliance could involve Mara. That way, he thought earnestly, he would   
have better chances of running into her again then and again.  
  
Perhaps even more often than if he were only to try to train her as they had   
just discussed.   
  
"Okay, well, see you later!" she nodded once, then turned her back to him.  
  
"Bye," he bid her, barely restraining his delighted smile from showing on his   
face.   
  
He watched her leave and hoped that he'd see her soon. Upon that thought,   
another fiery blush inflamed his face and chest as it brought back home the fact   
that if he weren't careful, he would 'really' fall in love with the fiery Mara   
Jade... who would probably kill him if she ever found out what he was thinking   
about.  
  
Well, he sighed to himself as he leaned back in his pillows, if death had to   
come to them all, then he'd choose a death for loving Mara Jade over anything   
else.   
  
An angel was worth such a sacrifice, he admitted wryly, naively, then caught   
himself and forced himself to come back down to Coruscant and the real world.  
  
As he refocused on his reports about the battle of the shipyards of Bilbringi,   
he belatedly realized that it had been a long, long while since he had   
daydreamed as he had used to on Tatooine.  
  
A long time indeed, he smirked slightly before turning back to more serious   
matters.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
The next day, Mara wandered inside the former imperial palace, considering   
Leia's offer.   
  
Either the galaxy was against her, she fumed slightly, or Skywalker's kindness   
was rubbing off on her; she hoped that it wasn't the latest option for it would   
be quite infuriating considering her former persona.   
  
Organa Solo's offer was very interesting though. On the positive side, she'd   
get all the freedom and the action she wanted while still being able to work on   
her trading idea as well as train a little bit with the Jedi; on the negative   
side, she would be working close-quarters with the New Republic, which she still   
didn't like that much, and possibly Skywalker, who was having more than just a   
physical effect on her. Training with him was one thing, but going off in   
missions with him was quite another...   
  
In fact, it was making her nervous.   
  
She stopped her train of thoughts on this one. Her? Nervous?   
  
No, she shook her head. The cool-headed Emperor's Hand couldn't be nervous, and   
yet, she reflected as she allowed herself to analyze her worry, she had never   
had to interact with a friend before. Up to now, her interactions had been   
limited to giving orders to officers and rulers, reporting and obeying her   
master, and insulting her victims.   
  
Not much small talk, she pouted.   
  
Still, she wondered seriously, would she sacrifice her freedom and dream because   
she didn't want to risk the possibility of spending much time with the Jedi? Not   
in her life, she decided. Besides, she had yet to resolve her ongoing conflict   
between her head and her regenerated heart.   
  
Yes, Skywalker represented a danger, she admitted to herself, and yet,... she   
had found herself missing his company the previous evening, much to her   
frustration. However, she could admit that after their latest talk and the   
moniker that she had chosen for him, a moniker which already fit him to   
perfection, she really wanted to know him better... to know the farmboy, not   
just the Jedi and kind man.   
  
And speaking of farmboy, she reflected as she pondered her other option, if she   
did say no to the offer, if she instead simply trained a bit with the Jedi and   
left, she'd be free to track down her Tatooine farm boy and bring him back with   
her...   
  
And what was she thinking?, she berated herself. The boy had grown and probably   
had a life of his own now, a life she had 'no' right to ruin because she was   
still lusting for him after all those years of desertion. The Emperor's Hand   
wouldn't have hesitated to do that, but the reborn Mara Jade wasn't feeling   
overjoyed by such a prospect.   
  
No, she shook her head in sadness, she couldn't go after him. She had lost him,   
plain and simple... had even never really had him in the first place.   
  
Besides, she tried to hearten herself, he would be too easy to conquer... not   
challenging enough.  
  
... Skywalker on the other hand, she thought almost reflexively before she could   
quash her idea. Now there was quite an interesting prospect---- if she were to   
chase him at all of course, she amended coolly to keep herself in check.   
  
However, she had to concede that she rather liked the fact that the Jedi was far   
from helpless, could withstand her tricks... and that he 'knew' her, for real.   
More important, she knew him better now. He was not just a Jedi with tricks up   
his sleeve; he was a genuine human being, a very unique man who'd been through   
much, and someone who was showing interest for her.   
  
And real human interest at that, she reminded herself. The young man was not   
only looking for a business relationship or a potential-oriented one. Despite   
his Jedi reputation... he had retained his boyishness from his early years.   
  
Farmboy..., she smiled wistfully. It was funny how the moniker had come out   
unbidden in the medcenter, and yet it fit him so well. Especially considering   
the new side of his personality which she'd gotten a peak at in the medcenter.   
He hadn't complained about it either while he had always given her almost pained   
looks when she had sneered her 'Jedi' at him. Could he agree with her and like   
that teasing address?, she wondered. He had sure never been that unresponsive   
when even his Solo friend had called him 'Kid'.  
  
All in all, she conceded as she looked around herself to see where she had   
wandered, despite all her misgivings and instincts of protection, she wanted to   
deepen her friendship with Skywalker, even if he would surely make it difficult   
for her to remain at peace with herself.   
  
Meanwhile, she realized that her feet had taken her down a corridor whose layout   
she recognized. She turned toward the stairwell and headed for the 'secret'   
access to the roof.   
  
The moment that she opened the door, a strong wind buffeted in, blowing her hair   
away from her even as it whipped at her short jacket. However, Mara didn't   
notice any of this.  
  
Her eyes were riveted on Imperial City at dusk, a vision of the past... yet she   
was in its future now... in her present.  
  
She was free from the Emperor, free to enjoy life as it had always been yet had   
never been shown to her this way. Instead, Life, she realized, had always been   
little more than a tool in her former life, beings and locations to use to her   
advantage.  
  
However, now that she was seeing it with her 'new' eyes as well as her more   
sensitive senses, she could 'feel' the teeming energies of the beings who were   
making the city live, could consider them as unique entities, aliens and humans   
alike, trying to make their way through life as best they could.  
  
And unlike what she had always been led to believe, their way of life wasn't   
chaotic... but peaceful.  
  
Reaching the edge of the roof, she leaned against it, then closed her eyes and   
reveled in his new, vivid experience of peace.  
  
Peace.  
  
And Freedom.  
  
******  
(End of LAST COMMAND)   
******  
  
  
As she gazed at the lightsaber which Luke had just left in her care, Mara   
considered what it meant...   
  
And what about the strange electricity which she had felt again when they'd   
touched again...? she wondered in confusion. What did it mean? And what was it   
about 'this' man??, she asked the sky.  
  
No one, and she meant 'no one', had ever made her weak in the knees like he   
did... if only figuratively speaking. She had also never fantasized as much   
about a man as she did about 'that' man... And now she wanted to train with   
him?  
  
Well, yes, she answered. Her, a Jedi... who would've thought?, she smiled shyly   
as images of a brighter future danced in her mind. With him as her teacher, she   
knew that it was possible... Everything seemed possible with him. That kind of   
frightened her... but it also heartened her to know that she was not alone   
anymore.   
  
Perhaps, she conceded shyly, it was time to consider learning about love, true   
love... but very cautiously of course because she certainly didn't want to fall   
in the opposite trap of what her devotion to her master had been... That hated   
man who had betrayed and almost destroyed her...  
  
But Luke would never betray her, she reminded herself warmly, and unlike the   
Emperor, he really didn't crave power...   
  
Honesty, greatness and great built..., she thought as the dim memories of her   
teenage dreams returned to her. Even then, she had never believed that she   
would someday find a man who would match all her criteria; she had thought that   
it had been wishful thinking, had hoped that it would be, thus discouraging her   
from betraying her master... especially after her misadventure with the gentle   
farmboy, who had been great, yes, and kind,... but somehow nothing that could   
compare with what she had discovered in Skywalker.  
  
Gods he was enrapturing, she admitted to herself as she remembered their recent   
discussion. Even when not involved in a fight, there was a feline grace about   
him, and his muscles... and gentleness... and eyes!.. and ----- Darn, she   
couldn't believe, nor accept, how much she wanted him to be hers all of a   
sudden----  
  
'Sounds like love to me, Jade,' her conscience pointed out to her.   
  
'Well, maybe, but I think it's more like a very strong physical attraction,' she   
tried to defend herself.  
  
'Yeah, right, you can't lie to me.'   
  
'Oh, shut up!.. But he'd sure be a great conquest,' she admitted consciously.  
  
And thinking about him... he was part of the future, with the New Republic and   
all, and... well,...  
  
"Hang on a minute. I'll come with you," she called out to the object of her   
thoughts who had yet to re-enter the building.  
  
And with those simple words, she knew that she had killed her former self.   
  
The Emperor's Hand was no more.   
  
  
TBC in Friendship part 1 to?  
  
  
Copyright 2000/2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
Webmaster : Skyjade (Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff won't   
even be read.) 


	21. In the Shadows of Dark Empire: Beginning

In the Shadows of Dark Empire  
Part 1: The Beginning  
by SJ 12-2002/2003 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
___________________________________________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Naturally, everything related to events of Dark Empire also   
belong to Tom Veitch.   
Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.   
See my home page for more details.   
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for   
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.  
____________________________________________________  
  
  
  
  
As he ran as fast as he could down the corridors of the frigate, Luke's thoughts   
turned to his sister. Was she all right? Had Han managed to get her out before   
the planet had been---  
  
Suddenly aware that he was thinking as if they were back in the Rebellion and   
that they were only two steps ahead of the Empire, he mentally shook his head   
and forced himself to think more rationally.   
  
Coruscant was very heavily defended and equipped with a planetary-wide energy   
shield. His sister and friends, he then reminded himself, were probably in the   
former Imperial Palace, the most impregnable place of the whole planet---  
  
Although it had been proven more vulnerable than they had estimated when   
imperial spies had managed to infiltrate it during Thrawn's---  
  
At the thought of how close his sister and family had come to be taken by   
imperials, he forced more speed out of his already singing muscles. The   
resulting wind whistled past his ears as his heart pounded in his chest as if it   
were ready to jump out of it ; Luke didn't pay any attention to those signs of   
excessive straining.   
  
He ran even faster, barely avoiding crewmen as he zipped past them before   
turning tight corners.  
  
As usual now, Mara Jade was right on his heels. "It might only be a minor   
attack," she commented between two quick breaths. "I'm sure that they're all   
right."  
  
While his friend's words normally comforted him, they didn't this time. Somehow,   
Luke had an extremely bad feeling about this sudden turn of events. Mara seemed   
to understand this ; she remained silent as she ran at his side.  
  
  
  
  
They finally reached the main bridge--- and screeched to a halt in order to   
avoid plowing in the busy techs. The moment that her eyes rested on them, Mara   
understood that they were in an emergency status. The ship was no longer in   
hyperspace and the officers were gathered around the communication area.  
  
Luke naturally walked toward them. "Any news?" he asked in general once he had   
reached the small group of worried officers.  
  
The admiral reflexively saluted him. "Master Skywalker, we are trying to break   
through the jamming that is going on around Coruscant. From what we can deduce   
from the first reports, the Imperials are striking with everything that can   
fly."  
  
The Katana Fleet, Mara suddenly shivered even as she searched Luke's eyes with   
hers. From the grimness of his gaze, she understood that her friend had made   
the same deduction.  
  
However, before either of them could comment, a tech suddenly called for   
everyone's attention. "Yes, Councilor, he's here," he answered urgently, then   
turned toward the young Jedi. "Your sister wants to talk to you, Master Jedi."  
  
Two seconds later, Luke had put on the offered head set. "Leia, are you all   
right?" he asked. A pause. From Luke's ensuing sigh, Mara understood that the   
answer was positive. "What's going on?"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"They're here to wipe us out, Luke," Leia answered him grimly, then before he   
could argue against her defeatist conclusion, continued: "There were spies on   
the surface of the planet. When the first ships appeared on our screens, the   
others sabotaged our shields and long-range cannons. They were extremely well-  
organized this time," she sighed, "and now they are much too numerous for us to   
defend Coruscant for much longer."  
  
"We're coming," Luke reflexively reassured her, then turned toward the general   
in charge of the ship. "How fast can we re---"  
  
"Luke," his sister's voice interrupted him. "We're leaving Coruscant. Don't come   
anywhere near the planet, you hear me? Get to the rendezvous point. We'll meet   
you there."  
  
Luke was too stumped to argue. "What?!" he gaped in shock. "We're giving up on   
Coruscant just like this? Without putting up more---"  
  
"We've already lost more than forty percent of our means of defense," Leia   
informed him matter-of-fact, "and the shield is almost completely gone now.   
We're gathering at new Pinnacle Base."  
  
Mara, who had picked up another head set, cut in the discussion. "What about our   
group on Alphagi, Leia?" she inquired seriously. "You did send an important part   
of our forces to take out that base.  
  
A heavy sigh of resignation answered them both. "Imperial reinforcement came in   
just after you left the area ; they boxed them in. We have lost contact with   
them now, but we don't know if it is because of them, or because of us."  
  
Both Jedi Knights searched each other's eyes at this. They were beaten. Within   
a few hours, the tables had been turned on them.  
  
It didn't make it any easier for Luke to leave his sister and friends to their   
own devices, especially not when he knew that he could save them.   
  
As if sensing his dilemma, the ex-princess spoke up again. "Luke, we'll be all   
right, I promise," she reassured him earnestly. "Others will probably need your   
help soon, and you are our last Jedi fighter. We can't risk you for an   
impossible rescue mission. Rejoin the rendezvous point. It's an order, Commander   
Skywalker," she finished, officially reasserting him in his military functions   
for the time being.  
  
For a brief, very brief moment, Luke was tempted to resist, to argue, to remind   
her that he was a private citizen now. However, as he gazed at the surrounding   
men and women, he understood that all of a sudden, they were once again counting   
on him, the great hero of the first war, to lead them to victory.   
  
He turned toward his friend ; she nodded slightly in agreement with Leia's   
statement. Mara, he reminded himself, was an expert in fighting tactics and   
strategies. She knew when some sacrifices had to be done in order to ensure   
victory.  
  
"All right," he sighed in reluctant acceptance. "I'll take the remaining ships   
to the rendezvous point, then organize the regrouping until you join us."  
  
"I knew that I could count on you, Luke," his sister answered seriously. "See   
you soon, brother, and I love you."  
  
"I love you too, Leia. Now, you and the others get out of there and come back to   
us in one piece."  
  
"We will," Leia promised him more gently. "Coruscant out."  
  
"Commander Skywalker out," he answered, then slowly removed the head set from   
his ear before he turned around to face his new assignment.   
  
At first, the officers and crewmen could only gape at him as they registered the   
title that he had voluntarily used to identify his transmission, then they all   
saluted him. "What are your orders, Sir?" General Renn inquired respectfully.   
  
Almost reverently, Luke reflected while he restrained his wince at being treated   
as if he were their savior. Not so long ago, he reminded himself, he had learnt   
that he was only human ; he hoped that the others would soon understand it as   
well. "Re-enter hyperspace, General," he instructed him. "The rendezvous point   
is Da Soocha."  
  
"Yes, Sir," the others answered almost in unison, then hurried to accomplish   
their assigned duty.   
  
As he watched the others at work, Mara sided closer and barely rested her hand   
on his shoulder. "Must be the will of the Force, farmboy," she reassured him,   
obviously aware of his misgivings about returning in the military world. "After   
all, you can truly make the difference if this becomes a full-blown war."  
  
Shivering slightly at either her touch or the prospect of war, or perhaps both,   
he remained silent, then answered: "Perhaps."  
  
Around them, the ship vibrated slightly as it re-entered hyperspace.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
On Byss, the constantly aging Emperor cackled as he watched the military display   
of the ongoing attacks on both Coruscant and Alphagi. The puny rebels were no   
match for his unrestrained might, he cackled to himself. While Alphagi's battle   
would soon be over, having been little more than a distraction for his general's   
troops, Coruscant was another matter altogether.   
  
Blue blips of lights were constantly making their way past his uncountable   
number of red dots. Many more of them disappeared before making it past his   
blockade, but those were civilians, he shrugged. Unimportant elements in his   
grand scheme of conquest. The main threat though was still gathered on the   
planet, like a cancer that was rooted in his aging body and did not want to   
leave it.   
  
Soon though, he smiled to himself while he distractedly listened to the reports   
of his spies on the surface, soon, they would leave, using the advantage of   
number to make it past the diffused blockade.  
  
Which left him with one question. Would he destroy them today? Or would he keep   
them around to play with for a while longer? As he considered his options and   
how to achieve his goal with young Skywalker, he decided that keeping the   
Rebellion around for a while longer would serve him better.  
  
For one thing, he then smiled to himself, it would be delightful to watch his   
new Dark Lord of the Sith destroy his friends and family once and for all, and   
would add to the irreversible corruption of the youth.  
  
Speaking of which, he then thought seriously, he had just 'witnessed' his   
renewed nomination as 'Commander' ; he conceded that he had enjoyed the youth's   
unhappy reaction to this turn of events. Now how, he wondered greedily, could he   
make sure to keep this glum attitude of his going for a while longer? Soon, his   
sister and best friends would rejoin him at the rendezvous point and would   
probably try to cheer him up a little...  
  
Unless, he paused shortly, he could keep the youth away from them. After all,   
he then sneered in mirthless amusement, they were at war again. Thus, 'anything'   
could happen once again, even friends being kept apart for months.   
  
He turned toward his first general and ordered him to send Interdictors in the   
Rodia system, then gave him exact coordinates were to ambush rebels.  
  
He would probably lose a good few ships, he calculated, or a bare minimum of   
good pilots, but, he shrugged, they were a small price to pay to keep Skywalker   
in check until it would be time to claim him.   
  
The more isolated the youth would be, the more moody he would become, thus the   
more self-centered he would grow.  
  
Speaking of isolation though, he reminded himself that Jade was still with him,   
and unlike what he had hoped to generate between the two youths, the young   
woman's presence was not feeding their negative feelings that much. Instead, it   
was rekindling whatever Lecia had managed to destroy in his name.  
  
But not for much longer, he cackled in dark delight. Soon, even Skywalker would   
not be able to keep Jade at his side. He addressed his general once again and   
gave him more precise instructions for the Interdictors, then refocused on the   
tactical display of Coruscant.  
  
As he studied his unfolding victory, he reflected that he hadn't been aware of   
how much he had missed the cold pleasure of being involved in open battles with   
his enemies.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
On Coruscant, Leia was still in the main Command Center, warily eyeing the   
tactical display of the ongoing battle. In a way, she conceded that it reminded   
her of when Thrawn had attacked them with asteroids, but this time, Han was at   
her side, and the red blips were real threats, not imaginative ones.  
  
"You'd think that they would have learnt about subtlety," her husband wise-  
cracked in her ear in an obvious attempt to lighten the grim mood of the moment.   
  
While he managed to pull a quirk of her lips from her, she did not feel up to   
his snide humor at the moment. The situation was desperate ; they were   
impossibly outnumbered because their fleet was spread-out throughout the galaxy,   
and the sabotagers had really done a thorough job on their defenses. As if, she   
reflected warily, they had known exactly where and how to incapacitate them.  
  
Whoever was behind this attack, she then admitted grimly, had a very intimate   
knowledge of Coruscant and the old Imperial secrets to be able to pull off such   
a coordinated and efficient attack. But who could it be?, she wondered uneasily.   
As far as they knew, most admirals and superior officers had been removed from   
the circuit throughout the past years.   
  
Unless they were facing someone like what Mara had been, she conceded as she   
remembered the red-head's mentioning that there had been others like her, but   
no, she dimly shook her head.  
  
Something was not fitting, somehow...  
  
"Leia," Han suddenly pulled her out of her musings. "We can't stay here any   
longer. I know that you wanted to stay till the end, but this is the end. We   
must get to the Falcon and leave with the others," he told her earnestly.  
  
Leia's first instinct was to resist him as she had on Hoth, but the moment that   
her gaze crossed Mon Mothma's and Rieekan's, she subdued.  
  
"Think about your children, Princess," Rieekan told her simply. "For once, don't   
take any unnecessary risks. The survivors will need you at Pinnacle Base."  
  
But they would also need them, she wanted to argue ; her companions gently shook   
their heads at her, then Mon Mothma stepped slightly closer to her. "It's an   
order, Leia. Go with your husband and hide amongst the rest of the group."  
  
Suddenly feeling as if the other had skillfully twisted her arm, she meant to   
retort, then remembered how she had just pulled such a move on her dear brother.   
  
Her brother to whom she had promised to rejoin the rendezvous point in one   
piece.   
  
Reluctantly. she nodded in acceptance, threw a last gaze at the quickly   
worsening status of the ongoing battle---- then Han had taken hold of her hand   
and was pulling her after himself. "Chewie's got the Falcon prepped."  
  
"As long as it doesn't do to us what it did on Hoth," she commented as she ran   
after him, unable to not remember how their last near escape from the Empire had   
turned out.  
  
Han had been taken away from her. Her brother had never been the same. The   
Rebellion had almost been beaten--- No!, she defied her memories, they were not   
in the past anymore. Nor were they an outlaw rebellion.  
  
They were the official government of the galaxy now.  
  
Still, like on Hoth, she and Han ran through deserted corridors, trying to   
outrun the Empire. The ex-princess of Alderaan dimly congratulated herself on   
her choice of clothing for the day. Her more usual gowns would be her death   
right about now.  
  
  
  
  
  
Han tried to run as fast as he could, counting down in his mind when the shield   
would completely give up on them.  
  
A few seconds after he had reached zero, the floor and building around them   
suddenly shook as a heavy turbolaser blast rammed in the nearby ground. "That's   
it, we're naked now," he growled while he dragged his beloved wife after   
himself. Her sleeveless cloak was floating behind her as if she were wearing a   
cloud, but thankfully, the rest of her jumpsuit was ideal for running.  
  
How could things come back to this, he asked himself while he frantically   
searched around themselves for a short-cut to the Falcon's hangar bay. If he   
didn't know better, he would think that they were back in the Rebellion, with a   
blossoming love on their hands while they were running for their lives.  
  
However, they were not in the Rebellion anymore. Instead, they were in the   
official seat of the New Republic and he was trying to save his wife's life so   
that their children would not grow orphan as he had. "Come on, Leia!" he urged   
her. "We'll make it!"  
  
As if to defy his latest statement, a new impact shook the ground ; it knocked   
them off-balance. "Han," Leia commented while they both hurried back to their   
feet. "Forget the hangar bays." She pulled him back the way they had come from,   
then toward the nearest exit.   
  
There, they ran into the unfortunate citizens who had been unable to make it   
off-planet and were in a complete state of panic. "Call Chewie," his wife   
ordered him. "Tell him to pick us up outside!"  
  
Although he was aware that her idea would expose them to more fire, Han could   
recognize when her plan was still more workable than his own. He pulled out his   
comlink with his left hand. "Chewie!" he called. "Home in on me, we're---"  
  
"Han, look out!" Leia warned him even as she pulled him down to the still well-  
polished floor.   
  
Imperial troops had landed and were invadind the former palace.  
  
Even as he reflected that it truly was Hoth all over again, he gave the comlink   
to his wife before he pulled his blaster free of his holster and began to defend   
their lives from the ruthless troopers.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Not so far away from there, Chewie watched and listened to the reports about the   
ongoing attack. In all his life, he had never seen such a quickly-deprecating   
situation. In a matter of hours, his and his honor family's lives had gone from   
Peace to War. Now, they absolutely needed to escape what had been their homes   
for a few years now.  
  
"Chewie!' Leia called, replacing Han's voice. "Troopers have come in. Don't land   
to pick us up, okay? Remember how we boarded the ship when in Xizor's palace?"   
she asked him.  
  
As he remembered how they had literally jumped aboard the ship that day, Chewie   
groaned in agreement, then lifted off.  
  
"Oooooh, we're doomed," Threepio whined from behind him.   
  
Both himself and Artoo-Detoo scolded him strongly for his pessimism, then he   
refocused on his flying ; he opened fire on the troops who were gathered near   
where he needed to hover, then his short range warnings systems went off. He   
swiftly picked up in speed and altitude, then twisted the ship on her horizontal   
axis.   
  
He thus barely avoided the sharp aim of two TIE fighters. However, once safe,   
he turned his blaster cannon backward ; he nailed one on his first shot, then   
quickly turned around and headed back toward the nearby palace. He flew onward,   
then some more, as if intent to ram in its wall.  
  
His pursuant didn't see any problems with his tactic and continued to fire at   
him. Chewie avoided the blasts as much as he could while not losing track of his   
original plan. When he was less than fifteen meters away from the solid wall, he   
pulled the ship to a steep upward angle.   
  
He barely avoided the wall ; the TIE fighter rammed completely into the wall,  
thus creating the opening that he needed to save Han and Leia.   
  
"We're not going to survive this," Threepio whined again to himself.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Leia, who had barely avoided being hit by large chunks of debris, was the first   
of her couple to recover from her shock. At first, she couldn't decide if she   
were dreaming or not, then she decided that the Falcon was truly hovering   
nearby, waiting for them.   
  
"Han!" she roused her dazed husband. "Come on, that's our exit cue!"  
  
Although still reeling from the thundering noise that had followed the ship's   
relatively close-by explosion, Solo pushed himself to his feet, then, with her   
help, hobbled as fast as he could toward the waiting ship.  
  
Thanks to Chewie's intervention, any immediate threat had been taken care of.   
They both jumped/climbed aboard the ship--- then Leia hurried to pull Han's legs   
aboard when new blaster fire began to track them inside. "Go Chewie, go!" she   
yelled toward the inside of the ship.   
  
The ramp sealed completely, cutting off the desolate sight of Coruscant under   
attack, then she heard the familiar sounds of the ship climbing for space.   
They had made it, for the moment.  
  
A few moments later, after having helped an injured Han aboard the rest of the   
ship, they sealed its inner hatch, then she heard the whine of the hyperdrive as   
it activated itself.  
  
They had truly made it, she sighed forlornly, and were back to being a   
Rebellion.  
  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
When the alarm suddenly went off aboard Freedom 3, its crew and passengers   
instantaneously knew what it meant.  
  
It was their turn to be attacked by the Imperials.   
  
However, what greeted Mara when she returned on the bridge was not what she had   
expected at all. Instead of finding out that the ships had stumbled on an enemy   
group, she discovered that the imperials had pulled them out of hyperspace   
through the use of Interdictors ships.  
  
"How did they know that we were here?" someone was asking to nobody in   
particular.  
  
"Man the fighters, shields at maximum," General Renn snapped to his   
subordinates.   
  
"Find the nearest edge of the interdiction field," Luke added, addressing his   
request to a nearby tactical technician.   
  
Understanding exactly what was going on, she spared the others from her   
unnecessary question. Instead, she stepped closer to her friend and commented:   
"Taking us back the way we came would also be a good way to escape them."  
  
"Except that turning around will cost us several minutes that we don't have,"   
her Jedi companion retorted seriously. "Unless," he then added thoughtfully and   
paused.   
  
"Unless what?" she prompted him.  
  
He turned toward a nearby officer. "How many fighters do we have aboard this   
frigate?"   
  
"Two squads, Sir."  
  
Around ten ships then, Mara translated for herself. "Are they all manned?" she   
inquired as an idea suddenly came to her.   
  
"We are short of one pilot, Madam. He's been sick since we left Coruscant."  
  
"Not anymore," she answered, then turned to leave.   
  
Luke's hand appeared on her forearm ; she turned around and stared straight into   
his deep, beautiful blue eyes. "Are you sure about this, Mara?" he asked her   
seriously. "You've never flown an x-wing before."  
  
"I can fly anything, farmboy," she retorted confidently. "Just get to that edge   
as fast as possible, I'll follow with the others."  
  
And with that, she pulled free of his hand and ran out of the bridge.   
  
At last, she smiled to herself, a new opportunity to spread her wings.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
As he watched her leave, Luke pondered how much he still had to discover about   
his amazing friend, then shook his head and refocused on the rest of his plan.   
"Right, Sven, where's that edge?" he asked the young technician.   
  
"Fifty meters behind us, but at only one-hundred-thirty-five degrees from our   
current location."  
  
"Lieutenant," he addressed a nearby officer, "tell your men to give us cover   
throughout the maneuver. General," he then turned toward his new subordinate,   
"shields at maximum, rotation as fast as possible. We'll make it to that edge."  
  
"Yes, Sir," they both saluted, then snapped into action.  
  
Leaving Luke to ponder his unusual commanding functions. Unlike the last time   
that he had commanded a group, above Bakura, he felt strangely at ease with his   
impromptu duty aboard the ship and for his group. Even stranger, he then   
admitted to himself, was that he truly knew what to do to save his new charges.   
He didn't need to rely on a computer anymore to understand the dynamics of an   
ongoing battle, nor did he need to analyze for a long while before coming up   
with a strategy.  
  
In a way, he smiled to himself, he felt like when he had been aboard his   
snowspeeder on Hoth, adapting his strategy to the strong armor of the AT-ATs.   
This time however, he was in charge of three ships, and he was not on the front-  
line to face the enemy. Yet, he conceded seriously, he felt in complete control   
of the situation as well as able to accomplish his goal, which was to escape the   
enemy for the moment.  
  
Although he had not used his commanding abilities in quite a while, they had   
obviously matured along with the rest of his personality...  
  
And especially lately, he reflected more grimly, then forced himself to refocus   
on his current task.  
  
"Rotation up to five percent, Sir," a tech informed him seriously.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The moment that the x-wing shot past the confining hangar bay of Freedom 3, Mara   
Jade felt as if she were reborn. She had not flown in a fighter since the battle   
of the Katana Fleet, and she had missed it. Twisting her stick to the left, she   
followed the rest of the fighters as they headed for the opposite flank of the   
ship---  
  
"Yeah, couldn't leave us alone," a grim voice commented in her ear. "Here they   
come, gang. Shields at maximum, lock s-foils in attack position."  
  
While she reflexively followed instructions, her mind remembering more details   
about the x-wing with each passing moment, another part of her mind focused its   
attention on the incoming imperials, as well as on the main ships that were   
still behind them but quickly approaching their small group.   
  
While she avoided the first laser bolts that came their way, skillfully pulling   
the ship in a corkscrewing maneuver that brought her under the line of fire of   
the main group, she dimly wondered how the others had known that their group had   
been travelling along that vector.   
  
She twisted her stick again, this time to elude a pursuing TIE, then pulled a   
drop-kick maneuver on him, the very same maneuver that Luke had tried on her   
when he had been trying to escape on Myrkr. Unlike then though, it worked and   
she managed to shift position with her pursuant. He didn't have time to   
understand what had happened before she shot him out of the sky.  
  
"Freedom is up to twenty-eight percent of rotation," Luke's voice informed them.   
"The Interdictors are not changing position but the Star Destroyers are coming   
closer."  
  
Gazing in front of her, Mara saw that he was right, then frowned. Something was-  
--  
  
A sudden warning in the Force saved her from becoming stellar dust ; she turned   
upside down to avoid another hit, then swerved from right to left to elude next   
attacks. She then spotted what she needed to save herself and headed toward a   
lone fighter that was looking for new preys. As expected, he turned toward her   
and aimed at her from a forward location. She quickly shifted path ; the two   
imps caught each other in their cross-fire.  
  
Safe once again, she refocused her attention on the far away interdictors.   
Something was not right about them, she resumed her previous thought. She had   
heard about Thrawn's use of them to pull his own ships out of hyperspace during   
a battle, but in their current situation, they weren't positioned for this use.   
Instead, they were truly meant to hold an enemy in real space, but...  
  
Something was nagging at her about their disposition, something---  
  
As if aware that she was pondering their true intents, the imperials fighters   
redoubled their attacks on them, forcing her to concentrate her attention on her   
flying only.  
  
While she and her group made sure that the fighters could not disable their   
ships to keep them from escaping, Freedom 2 to 4 opened fire on the approaching   
Star Destroyers---  
  
Then, finally, they were near the edge. She, like the others, received scrambled   
coordinates about their new rendezvous point, then they all broke away for   
freedom.  
  
Even in hyperspace though, her feeling that something was not right remained.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
After making sure that everything was all right after their quick confrontation   
with imperials, Luke retired to his quarters for the night, which had already   
been delayed by the bad news of the day. Now that the adrenaline had receded   
once again, he discovered that he was still not completely recovered from his   
bout of hypothermia.   
  
As he wrapped his previously-discarded blanket around his shoulders, he dimly   
reflected that wearing a cloak for the time being might not be a bad idea until   
he had completely recovered from his 'swim' in the cold waters. His thoughts   
then went to having a hot shower in order to relax and warm himself up again,   
but as he approached his assigned quarters, his eyes stopped on Mara's door.  
  
Pulled by the prospect of talking to her a little, he walked closer to her door,   
then knocked. At first, nothing happened, then her door finally slid open.   
"Mara?" he called uncertainly.  
  
She was facing the window of her quarters, her dark form contrasting quietly   
with the light-blue colors of hyperspace. "Have you ever had the feeling that   
you are this close to finding an answer to your worry," she inquired, not   
turning around toward him yet raising her hand into view while keeping her index   
mere centimeters from her thumb, "yet can't find it?" she concluded, dropping   
her hand once again.  
  
"All the time," he nodded knowingly as he noticed that her bunk was undone   
already. "What's troubling you?" he inquired as he stepped closer to her.  
  
She slowly turned toward him. "Have you noticed something strange about today's   
incident with the Interdictors?" she queried seriously.  
  
He could only raise his eyebrows in confusion. "Not really," he admitted   
honestly.   
  
She shrugged and turned away from him once again. "Then I might just be jumping   
at shadows."  
  
"Don't underestimate your intuition, Mara," he advised her seriously. "What   
caught your attention?" he prompted her knowingly.  
  
"Their disposition," she answered. "Normally, Interdictors are positioned   
'along' both sides of a vector in order to offer as wide a restriction field as   
possible, thus truly entrapping their prey. Today though, they were facing   
us..."  
  
"Which means that we were either dealing with incapable," he nodded as he slowly   
understood what she was worried about.  
  
"Or else with someone who only wanted to slow us down."  
  
"But who, and why?" Luke frowned in confusion.  
  
"Exactly," she nodded slowly. "How could they know that we were travelling along   
this vector, especially since we changed direction after we contacted Coruscant?   
And why not truly slow us down by leaving us in a state of disrepair?.. Or   
taking us prisoner for a while. They had everything that they needed to manage   
this," she pointed out seriously. "If the destroyers had come in faster and   
closer, we would have been done for."  
  
"I know," he conceded. "Could we have spies inside the ship or the group?" he   
suggested seriously.  
  
"They would have left a signal of some kind on the monitoring devices of the   
ship between our last stop and then. I," she then briefly hesitated, "I already   
checked the communication registers. Nothing was sent out of either ships   
between those."  
  
Suddenly feeling uneasy with the other option that was left to them, Luke waited   
for Mara to complete her thoughts. "I don't like what I'm thinking about either,   
Skywalker," she informed him seriously, having obviously felt his sudden worry.   
"However, if we take the facts at face value, we can only deduce that we're   
dealing with a Jedi. And who would be powerful enough to do this..."  
  
"But the Emperor," Luke half-whispered--- then shook his head in denial. "He's   
dead, Mara. I saw it happen. You felt it. His spirit is prisoner around Endor."  
  
"But we know that he knew about cloning," she reminded him grimly, as if his   
answer had been what she had needed to accept her conclusion. "What if..?"  
  
Luke reflexively took hold of her biceps. "Mara," he said seriously, "look at   
me. We would know if he were alive," he stated adamantly. "Besides, why would   
he stay hidden for so long?" he commented more reasonable. As he gazed in his   
friend's eyes though, he understood that she knew more than she had told him.   
"What?" he asked her seriously. "What is it?"  
  
"I," she began, averting his eyes, "I'm having nightmares about him once again,   
Luke," she barely whispered loud enough for him to hear her. "And he berates me   
for befriending you. For..."  
  
"Mara," Luke interrupted her gently even as he brought his fingers under her   
chin to make her look up at him once again. "This might only be your old self   
that is trying to resist the changes that you have chosen for yourself. If it   
were the Emperor, he would have done it the moment that you saved my life---"  
  
His friend suddenly turned away from him, as if unable to face him anymore.   
Even though she didn't say anything, he understood that she 'had' dreamt of the   
Emperor before today.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her more glumly.   
  
"I couldn't, Luke," she apologized, "I didn't want to face the fact that he   
could still be alive, not after finding out how he had lied to me for all those   
years," she hesitated slightly, "and about you. I should have told you though,   
I know this now, I'm sorry" she apologized again. "I began to hear his voice   
again the first night that I went to your place for training. Then, the next   
day, you taught me about the mental shields and I never had those problems   
again. I thought that it had only been a spirit problem," she tried to joke,   
but her voice choked on itself in grief and worry, "However," she continued more   
steadily, "after seeing what happened today..." She turned around to face him   
once again. "I'm afraid that he's using me as a homing beacon, Luke. I can't   
stay with you, not even to fight against him."  
  
"If we are dealing with him, Mara," he countered reflexively.   
  
  
  
  
As she listened to her friend's new argument, Mara felt her heart sink in her   
boots as the unfortunately-familiar voice filled her mind once again, as if   
talking about it had weakened her shields. She tried to block him out once   
again.  
  
*Aren't you a clever 'Jedi', Jade,* her former master's voice grated in her   
mind. *You should know that you can never defeat me, no matter how far you run,   
nor how fast.*  
  
She reflexively looked into her best friend's eyes, searching them for support.   
Thus, she found the strength to not endanger him in any way. Her friend   
deserved a break, and she knew just how to eliminate the immediate danger of the   
Emperor from around him. "I have to leave, Luke. Besides," she added quickly   
before he could argue with her once again, "if a war is truly coming, the   
Smuggler's Alliance will need leadership to continue to exist. Otherwise, it   
will be lost forever."   
  
She moved toward the door ; Luke silently followed her. Thanks to her different   
experiences with her friend, she could feel that he wanted to give her several   
reasons for not leaving, but in the end, they both knew that it was for the   
best.  
  
A few corridors later, she heard him call the hangar bays to have a y-wing   
prepared for immediate departure. Next, he warned the bridge to take them out   
of hypersace, then he resumed his companionable silence with her.  
  
Both knew that the events were forcing their hands and that they couldn't change   
them this time.  
  
For their safety, as well as the survival of everything that they had worked for   
either for a long, or short time, they had to part company once again.  
  
No matter how much their friendship had recovered in closeness throughout the   
past day.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
  
They finally reached the hangar bay. Luke guided Mara to the Y-wing bay, then   
sadly watched her as she checked her ship before she disappeared inside the   
ready room to put on a flight suit.  
  
Strange, he reflected, how he had gone from being afraid of her to liking her   
very much once again. This time, his feelings for her were tempered, less   
ravaging, yet his love for her was slowly resurfacing from under the cold wall   
of fear that he had been wrapping around himself until... well, before his bath   
in cold water, he smiled slightly to himself.  
  
Perhaps it was because he knew that Mara did love him, or perhaps because her   
wonderful personality was making him forget almost everything that the false   
Mara had told him and made him do to himself. She had not been Mara,.. not even   
in her worse days as the Emperor's Hand, he thought with growing confidence in   
his best friend.   
  
However, loving partner or not, the Will of the Force was still for him to   
become a true Jedi, he reminded himself seriously. He had to put a plug on his   
heart, on his overwhelming feelings for people or things. He had to reach a   
state of Serenity.  
  
He dimly admitted to himself that such a state did not appeal to him that much,   
but consciously, he accepted his Destiny once again and forced himself to simply   
appreciate his friend as a good companion, someone on whom he could 'always'   
count.  
  
Someone he would miss, but would not allow himself to miss too much either. He   
would balance even 'this' feeling for her, he resolved seriously.  
  
The object of his thoughts finally came out of the ready room. "If something   
extremely important happens, farmboy, you know how to reach me, right?"  
  
"Will you still be on Myrkr?" he asked her while she walked past him to check on   
an engine of her ship.   
  
"If I'm not, try Karrde, or the Mystril Guards. They will know where to find   
me." She completed her check up, then faced him one last time.  
  
"I... I wish you didn't have to go, Mara," Luke admitted honestly, dimly   
berating the farmboy for his emotional outburst ; he worked on his self-control   
once again.   
  
"Me either," she answered him, then moved closer--- and hugged him.  
  
While part of Luke's brain balked at the thought of where that could lead him   
once again, another, still surviving part of his heart answered with a hug of   
his own. "Take care of yourself, Mara," he entreated her earnestly, "We'll   
figure out whoever is behind this, I promise."  
  
"Take care of yourself too, Luke, and keep me posted on the evolution of your   
search. I'm going for now, but," she pulled away and locked her emerald-green   
eyes on his. "I might come back if the situation changes."  
  
And then, whoever was masquerading as the Emperor would learn to not play tricks   
on her, Luke understood. He involuntarily winced in sympathy for whoever was   
behind all this. "I'll keep you informed," he promised her. "You, or your   
contacts," he then added with a smirk.  
  
With a last exchange of gazes, she turned around and climbed aboard her ship.   
Luke reluctantly moved away from the snub fighter. His friend waited until he   
was far enough from her to not be affected by her energy blasts, then activated   
the repulsorlifts. Outside, the surrounding space was normal once again.  
  
Seconds later, Luke watched her exhaust fire as it quickly disappeared amongst   
the dots of the stars--- then she made the transition into hyperspace and was   
gone for real.  
  
Forever?, Luke wondered uneasily.   
  
He admitted to himself that he hoped not.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
However, his wish didn't seem very powerful. The moment that Mara left him, the   
situation steadily worsened. When his still small group wasn't ambushed on   
their way back to the rendezvous point, they were receiving messages from Leia   
and the high command to help this or that planet that was undergoing an attack   
by a minor group of imperials.  
  
Thus, it took him almost two months to rejoin his sister and friends, two months   
during which he divided his time between his renewed functions of commander and   
his meditations to gain stronger self-control.  
  
The more the imperials seemed to wake up from their year-long sleep, the more   
serene and in control Luke grew until nothing much mattered to him, not even the   
dark cloak that he had begun to wear only to keep himself warmer. He also   
didn't wince anymore when people called him Master Skywalker instead of his more   
preferred 'Luke', or 'Commander Skywalker' addresses.  
  
Once he reached Da Soocha though, he briefly took a break from all this 'master'   
business to celebrate his friends' safe escape from Coruscant, but the moment   
was short-lived and quickly forgotten.   
  
More missions came up, calling for his, and the others' services once again.   
Thus, with or without his friends, he led their troops into rescues of besieged   
people and ships, then into hit-and-run tactics against the feuding imperials.  
  
One night, as he contemplated the sad sight of renewed war, he admitted to   
himself that they truly were back to being the Rebellion now, although the   
Empire was also warring against itself now. He also was nowhere close to   
finding a way to reassure his friend about her Emperor's worries, and his lack   
of answer about who was behind the sudden resurgence of the Empire greatly   
annoyed him.   
  
  
  
  
  
On Byss, the Emperor cackled mirthlessly. His plan was proceeding as he had   
foreseen. While his feuding troops were distracting the Rebels and young Jedi,   
he was overseeing the last preparations for his rightful return to his Empire.  
  
  
TBC in Aftermath  
  
  
  
'Copyright' 2002/2003, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net) 


	22. part 2: Aftermath

Aftermath  
by SJ 07-00/01-2003 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
___________________________________________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Naturally, everything related to events of Dark Empire also   
belong to Tom Veitch.   
  
Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.   
See my home page for more details.   
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for   
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.  
____________________________________________________  
  
  
A few days after Dark Empire 1:  
  
The black-enshrouded figure walked silently in the crowded corridors of Pinnacle   
Base, drawing a fare share of worried, even distrustful looks as he headed   
toward his destination.   
  
The young man did his best to ignore them.  
  
He finally reached his quarters, locked the door behind himself, then leaned   
back against it to gather his composure.   
  
Tried as he might though, Luke Skywalker, ex-not-quite-dark lord of the Sith in   
the Imperial forces, couldn't keep his heart from shattering under the   
meaningful looks that he had gotten while on his way from the command center.  
  
They had been exactly like those that he had gotten whenever he had gone out of   
his rooms ever since he had returned.   
  
His true comrade in arms did not trust him anymore.  
  
Well, he sneered to himself, since he couldn't trust himself anymore, he   
understood them quite well. Whenever he looked at himself in a mirror now, the   
only image that he could see was his father, even when he himself was not   
wearing his black uniform.   
  
He had been so close, he whimpered inwardly, so close to becoming a second   
Vader... to destroying everything that he had fought for. He shamefully hung   
his head until he felt the tips of the high collar of his cape touch his cheeks.   
  
If he had enough strength of will left, he reflected glumly, he would rip that   
horrible cloak away from himself and shred it to pieces with his lightsaber.  
Should he do this though, he would then fall to the Dark Side... and he didn't   
want 'that' to happen again.  
  
In fact, he admitted sadly, he couldn't show any emotions anymore, couldn't   
allow himself to feel anything anymore because he could not ascertain in any way   
that his emotions, whether positive or negative, would not be tainted by the   
darkness. Then, if it were the case, his feelings would then slowly twist him   
back into the Dark Side's claws--- and the nightmare would resume itself for the   
whole galaxy.   
  
The Emperor might be dead, he thought glumly, but the danger was still present,   
and the battle was still raging in his heart and soul.  
  
He should have died, he then whined forlornly, desperately... He should have   
died, then he admitted that he should, in fact, die...  
  
Slowly, as if obeying his will, his strengths ebbed away from his body until he   
couldn't stand anymore. He slumped to the floor, unconsciously refusing to   
fight the despair that firmly settled within his soul.   
  
He didn't have any right to fight anyway, he then reminded himself glumly.   
Instead, 'it' had every right to inhabit his mind, to fill him with regret and   
sorrow.   
  
How many had he killed on Calamari without feeling such feelings? he then asked   
himself mercilessly. How many poor souls had he sacrificed in his absolutely   
foolish bid to destroy the Emperor by himself? By... giving into the Dark   
Side?, he sobbed inwardly.  
  
Too many, was his answer.  
  
Yes, he nodded to himself, it was only fair that those souls came back to haunt   
him that way. However, he wished that they would also pound on him both   
physically and psychologically until he would really die instead of feeling like   
a living shell.  
  
Back aboard the Emperor's super Star Destroyer Eclipse, he had told Leia that he   
had wanted to know their father... Well, he sneered humorlessly, now he truly   
did.  
  
He felt just about as empty as Vader had felt for more than twenty years---  
  
Sith, he suddenly cursed mentally in despair. Why hadn't he heeded his father's   
words? Why had he underestimated the power of what had destroyed his very own,   
very strong father?..   
  
Because he had underestimated Palpatine, he reminded himself, mentally whipping   
himself over and over with that foolish thought. Despite what he had known   
about the tyrant from both his father and his best friend, he had deluded   
himself into thinking that he would defeat him.  
  
In the end, the only one that he had destroyed had been himself...   
  
He leaned his head against the cool steel of his door and shut his eyes.   
  
'Fool. Fool. Idiot. Stupid,' he berated himself vehemently and ceaselessly.  
  
He gave himself the worst attributes he could think of, not caring one single   
iota about what he was doing to his psyche at the moment. He had once managed   
to keep the Emperor from destroying him by freeing his new friend from her bonds   
of slavery, and for what? Only to throw himself in the Emperor's arms and open   
his mind to his destructive intents.   
  
All of a sudden, it took him all his will-power to not activate his lightsaber   
and drive it through his own heart.   
  
In fact, the only thing that kept him from doing so was the thought that   
Palpatine would really win if he killed himself. But he would never let him   
win, he resolved. He still wanted to die though...  
  
As he had when the Emperor had tried to poison him with his darkness...  
  
  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
He had tried to kill the Emperor before killing all his clones.  
  
He had failed.  
  
Now he was paying the price, the painful price...  
  
Focusing all his might on retaining his Light, protecting it against the   
relentless assault of Palpatine's veil of darkness, Luke barely listened to the   
Emperor as he crowed at him, his beaten Jedi opponent.  
  
"But not Jedi for much longer," the other sneered at his dangling, half-clothed   
form before adding his lighting bolts to the punishment.  
  
Unable to retain his scream of agony as the bolts touched his bare chest before   
they sought to bury themselves in it, Luke forced himself to not turn his focus   
away from the mental fight that was going on between himself and the Emperor's   
first and ongoing attack of darkness.  
  
Unlike his lightning bolts, the Veil of Darkness was made of biting bolts that   
were generating pain in his body while fighting their way in to the core of his   
Jedi soul.   
  
The combination of both attacks was horrendous... worse than anything he could   
remember from any other pain he had ever born...  
  
And it pleased the Emperor...   
  
Especially when he begged for mercy and surrendered---  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
Luke gasped awake. No!, he frantically begged in despair. Not again!   
  
He worriedly looked around himself--- and sighed in relief when he identified   
the surroundings of his rebel quarters on Da Soocha. He was even still sitting   
against the door where he had slumped earlier that day.  
  
Another nightmare, he thought as he wiped his forehead with his hand, drying it   
from sticky sweat. It had only been another nightmare, he sighed in relief,   
then paused on his feeling.   
  
It had also been real, he reminded himself as he noticed his new mechanical   
hand as well as the padded glove that was covering it. It was bearing the   
imperial seal on the inside of his wrist. Shivering anew at the thought of how   
close he had come to being lost forever to the Dark Side, Luke thanked the Force   
that the Emperor had not used his Dark Side veil on him when they'd met at   
Endor. At that time, he would have been done for...   
  
Even now, he then conceded worriedly, he'd barely been able to save his Light.   
In fact, he still wondered how he'd managed to remain a Light Jedi. When he had   
given up, when the Emperor had told him to stop fighting to prove him his true   
devotion to him... He had been convinced that he had been destroyed by the Dark   
Side... That he would never be a Jedi ever again, as the Emperor had told him   
would happen.   
  
The pain of that moment had certainly been enough to inform him that something   
in him 'had' died that day.  
  
Something had died, he reflected again, but... what?..  
  
He broke a cold sweat at that and resolved to study the question very carefully.   
They had beaten the Emperor, but that didn't mean that he himself was over his   
bad experiences and dark emotions. He'd have to be extremely careful... and   
wary, he added. He might just be a dormant trap that would reveal itself, but   
too late for him and his friends to save either him or his loved ones from   
himself.  
  
Unable to go back to sleep, he shifted his head slightly around and looked out   
his bay window. For a long, long while, he studied the flying Ixlls as they   
soared up and down while searching for food in the crevasses of Pinnacle Base.  
  
Somehow, he reflected unpleasantly, they reminded him of the Emperor, or even of   
the Dark Side, looking for victims. He forced himself to study them further to   
perhaps uncover an element of answer to what had been done to him.   
  
The predators didn't give him any answer to his unspoken question.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
------Ignoring the curious/worried gazes that she collected on her way to her   
brother's room, Leia hastened her pace.  
  
They had not seen Luke for breakfast, and he had not shown up at all at their   
tactical meeting. While Han had had to check the new recruits for the E-Wings,   
she herself had shrugged off everything else that had been on her schedule in   
order to check on her brother.  
  
While he had not mentioned, since his return, any peculiar feelings to either   
herself or Han, or any of their friends, she had noticed early on the lack of   
life in his eyes.  
  
In fact, ever since he had returned with her, she had sensed that something had   
been greatly bothering her brother. He had been taking part to anything that   
she offered to him, but he hadn't spoken much, nor had he ever smiled.  
  
While the return of the Emperor marked very dark times indeed, she remembered   
having seen her brother smile even when he had been getting a new hand after   
learning the truth about both their father and her love for Han. Considering   
how unpleasant a time that had been for him, she reasoned that he would now be   
able to smile a little despite the circumstances, and especially after returning   
from a dangerously close brush with the Dark Side.  
  
Thus, his unusual mood combined with her still edgy feeling about him were   
enough to worry her once again about him. While she still didn't understand how   
she had been able to summon all the Force that she had used to first find, then   
fight her brother and the Emperor, she understood that she could now trust   
herself in Force matters.  
  
And her brother was such a matter, a most important one too.  
  
She finally reached his quarters. Fighting down her urge to just storm in the   
room, she first knocked. When no answer came, she knocked and called him.   
"Luke, are you there?"  
  
No answer.   
  
She keyed the opening mechanism. The door remained closed. She understood that   
he had locked it from the inside. "Luke, I know you're in there," she reminded   
him, then switched to Force-talking when she became aware that people could hear   
her at the moment. *Don't be childish, brother. Let me in.*  
  
Although he didn't answer her, didn't allow her 'in' either physically nor   
mentally, she heard a shuffling noise come from behind the door, then it finally   
opened. She stepped in. The room was empty, his bunk was undone. She dimly   
noticed that her brother's lightsaber was resting on the deck, as if it had been   
somehow thrown there. What?, she frowned slightly.   
  
The door slid closed behind her; she reflexively turned around--- and gaped when   
she spotted her brother's presence on the floor.  
  
"What do you want?" he asked her without looking up at her.   
  
For a long, very long moment, Leia didn't know how to react to the current   
situation. There was her brother, looking even more under the Dark Side's   
influence than when she had gone aboard the Eclipse. He was sitting on the   
floor, one knee bent so that he could prop his left hand on it, which he did.   
He was still wearing his ominous cloak and padded uniform.  
  
In short, he currently looked more forlorn and glum than ever.  
  
If not for his face, she would have even thought that he had given in once   
again, but as she studied his half-hidden features, she recognized an expression   
of defeat that she had only seen once on her brother.  
  
When he had wanted to die when aboard the Millenium Falcon after they had   
rescued him from his first meeting ever with Vader.  
  
"Luke," she began soothingly even as she knelt in front of him. "What's   
troubling you?"  
  
Her brother snickered meanly at this, a sound that seemed completely foreign to   
the gentle person that her brother had once been. It unsettled her further.  
  
"What's troubling me," he repeated sarcastically. "Gee, Leia, I'd think that it   
would be obvious."  
  
Aware that it was his way of avoiding what was deeply hurting his soul, the ex-  
princess of Alderaan pressed onward. "I can indeed see the obvious, brother,   
but I think that you are thinking about the less obvious. How about letting me   
in?"  
  
"Why?" he retorted instantly, locking his impressive blue eyes on her. "So that   
you too can suffer from it? I don't think so."  
  
Even though she had seen her brother's eyes before, she couldn't help but gasp   
in shock and worry as she noticed the storm that was currently raging in the   
normally quiescent blue oceans of kindness. All of a sudden, her brother seemed   
to be the recipient of a barely contained power that was desperately searching   
for a way to escape his control. Her brother averted eye contact once again.  
  
"Luke," she tried again once she had recovered her composure, "look at me."  
  
Slowly, as if hesitant, he obeyed her request, but only half-way through. "I   
can't be trusted anymore, Leia," he told her honestly, his voice now broken by   
his obvious feeling of defeat. "You just saw it yourself," he then confirmed   
what she had seen in his eyes. "I'm a disaster waiting for the right, or wrong,   
moment to happen."  
  
"What did the Emperor did to you?" she asked him hoarsely while she reflexively   
shook her head in denial of his statement as she did so. She was aware that she   
was not coherent, nor diplomatic at the moment, but she did not care. Her   
brother's actual status was distressing her more and more with each passing   
moment.  
  
Especially when whatever opening she had managed to open in her brother's new-  
yet-firmly-established armor was gone and that he resumed his brooding posture   
once again. He remained silent once again.  
  
"You can't let him hurt you like this, Luke," she tried to rouse him from his   
listless state while shaking herself out of her torpor. "You defeated him," she   
tried earnestly as the thought of her brother in pain galvanized her desire to   
pull him completely free from the Emperor's claws. "We both defeated him," she   
reminded him, "But now, we need your help to complete the job. Please, Luke?"   
she beseeched him as she had once addressed an unknown, legendary Jedi Knight.  
  
This time, her plea went unanswered.  
  
For the first time since she had met her brother, all those years ago, she   
couldn't break through to him.  
  
What had the Emperor done to him??, she wondered in horror as she watched this   
young man who was, yet wasn't, her dear brother. The last time that she had   
seen him before he had left for that mission for Coruscant, he had been a   
caring, gentle and friendly young Jedi Master, and all of a sudden, he was   
brooding, cold, and avoiding even her. And he was worrying her.  
  
What could she do?, she wondered as she silently watched him, giving him a   
chance to speak with her once again. What was she supposed to do now?  
"Would you prefer to talk to Han?" she offered him, wondering if what was   
troubling her brother was only concerning men.  
  
"He wouldn't understand either," Luke mumbled with a brief shake of his head.   
  
"Then who would?" she asked him next in growing despair.   
  
Only silence answered her once again.  
  
Suddenly sighing in frustration, Leia stood up and headed for the exit. "If you   
don't want to cooperate, Luke, then I'm locking you in here until you get   
better. Pull yourself together, brother. With or without my help, I don't   
care, but we need you."  
  
And with that, she was gone, locking her brother, their legendary Jedi Knight,   
in his rooms for the time being.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Pull yourself together," Luke mimicked his sister. "Yeah, sure, if I knew what   
was missing," he retorted sarcastically.   
  
He didn't take any notice of the fact that she was locking him in. For one   
thing, he had chosen to lock himself in the first place, and second, he could   
free himself whenever he wished.  
  
What he had to decide though was what he would do once away from the ones he   
cared about.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
  
The officers' new meeting had long taken end, but Leia was still seated in her   
chair. As she had throughout the reunion, she was still pondering her meeting   
with her brother. Who would understand him if not herself nor Han?, she   
wondered for the hundredth time since leaving him to his glum thoughts.   
  
Lando was out question, she reflected seriously; the two men had very little in   
common. As for Wedge, he might be a good friend, but he knew even less about   
Jedi matters than Han did.   
  
"Leia?" Mon Mothma's voice inquired softly from her side.  
  
The beautiful young woman looked up from her fixated glance and met the   
matriarch's kind gaze.   
  
"Is something the matter?" she asked her gently yet seriously.  
  
Aware that the older woman was the first in command of the Rebel Alliance as   
well as her superior in the Republic, Leia instantly understood that she   
suspected that something was going on about her brother, thus was implicitly   
asking her to tell her the truth about him.  
  
Not exactly thrilled about this prospect, Leia sighed heavily, then leaned back   
in her chair and shrugged. "I think that the Emperor has hurt Luke worse than   
we first thought," she admitted glumly. "When we checked him up at the   
medcenter, we did not detect physical injuries except for some healing burns.   
Even those though did not compare to what he had born after his first encounter   
with him, or after his attack from C'Boath on Wayland."  
  
Mon Mothma perched an elegant eyebrow at this, silently waiting for her to   
continue.   
  
"I'm afraid that the darksider hurt him on a different level this time," the   
young woman finally admitted truthfully.  
  
"You mean like a brainwash?" the other commented while she took a seat beside   
her.   
  
"No," Leia shook her head in instant denial. "No, but I think that he convinced   
Luke that he will never escape the Dark Side now that he's come so close to it,   
and Luke believes it."  
  
"do you?" the other inquired seriously, almost worriedly.  
  
"No," she shook her head confidently. "Our father came back after 'years' of   
darkness, and Mara Jade..."  
  
Even as she pronounced the name of the young woman, Leia felt a shiver of   
foreknowledge run from her neck to her toes. There was her elusive answer! She   
instantly jumped to her feet and quickly gathered her datacards. "I'm sorry,   
Mon Mothma. I have to go!"  
  
"Leia?"  
  
"I'll explain later," she answered, then was running out of the meeting room and   
toward the Falcon's landing berth.   
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
Mara Jade was fixing her new ship in Karrde's new base when her friend/boss came   
up in her inverted field of vision. She pulled herself out of the landed ship.   
"Judging from your face," she commented, "someone has contacted us with news   
about the war."  
  
"Actually," the older man corrected while he handed her a clean towel,   
"Skywalker's sister is waiting for you, Mara. She says that it's important."  
  
Forgetting whatever she was about to say, the red-head dropped her towel and ran   
toward the entrance of the ysalamiri-blanketed base, then turned the corner and   
rushed inside the main communication room of the complex. As she walked closer   
to the turned-on holonet, she indeed recognized Leia Organa-Solo's features in   
the communication field. Unlike the last time that she had contacted her   
though, her eyes were not blazing with anger and distrust.   
  
Instead, they were shining with what seemed like hope to Mara.   
  
"Councilor," she greeted formally, "to what do I owe this call? I warned your   
brother to not involve me with the war---"  
  
"It's about Luke, Mara," the ex-princess from Alderaan explained without any   
polite detour. "I don't know if you are aware of it, but," she visibly   
hesitated on her next words. "Well, to summarize the past months, Luke was   
captured by the reborn Emperor and willingly turned to the Dark Side to destroy   
him from within. I managed to save him, then we killed the Emperor, but Luke is   
not completely free from him yet."  
  
Although Mara had kind of expected the Emperor to have cloned himself, as she   
had told Luke before going into hiding, Leia's confirmation still came as a   
shock to her.   
  
Then, the news that her friend had tried to become a monster in order to destroy   
a monster affected her so much that she completely lost her cool composure and   
gaped openly at the relatively familiar young woman.   
  
"Wait a minute," she finally managed to comment once her ideas were back in a   
more normal order, "the Emperor was truly alive and Skywalker didn't warn me?"  
  
"He couldn't," Leia reassured her seriously. "He didn't know before he was   
taken to Byss, and I didn't know about it until I went to Byss to save Luke."  
  
"You?" she gaped anew, this time in disbelief as she tried to understand how the   
petite, untrained woman had been able to survive the Emperor's wrath.   
  
"It's a long story," the other nodded slowly. "What matters is that back then,   
Luke had not 'completely' given into the Dark Side. He tried to destroy the   
Emperor by killing all his clones, and lost. When I saw him next, he was   
completely subdued to the Emperor. I managed to break through to him while we   
were aboard the Emperor's flagship, then we joined together to defeat Palpatine,   
but now..." she hesitated sadly, "I can't break through to him anymore, and I   
think that it is because of what happened between Byss and our final face-off."  
  
When the Emperor crushed his mind and soul, Mara nodded in understanding even as   
memories of her own 'shaping' came back to her. In her case, it had happened   
slowly, and at a fairly young age so that it had easily passed as disciplining.   
However, she suspected that the same degrading and destructive principles had   
been applied on Luke, although much faster...  
  
And since he had had a few challenges before----  
  
"Oh no!" she suddenly exclaimed out loud even as she understood what had 'truly'   
happened to Luke before they had parted company. That vile, fiendish----  
  
"What?" both Leia and Karrde inquired simultaneously.  
  
Surprised by the other's presence in the room, she first turned toward him to   
silently ask him why he was there, understood that he too had worried about the   
young Jedi, then turned around to face the ex-princess once again.   
  
"I'll be right there, Leia," she reassured the petite brunette. "Where's   
Skywalker right now?"  
  
"I locked him in his quarters," she answered seriously.  
  
Locks that would not keep him in place for long, she calculated. "I'm a few   
hours away from you. Station Short Stuff in front of his door to add to the   
security until I get there, okay?"  
  
"Short Stuff?" Leia frowned.  
  
"Skywalker's astro-mech," she explained quickly. "Tell him that I am asking him   
to guard Skywalker until I get there. He'll understand."  
  
If Luke's sister wasn't sure about what was going on between herself, her   
brother and his droid, she did not argue with her. "I'll do it, Mara. Come   
quickly please."  
  
"I'm on my way! Jade out," she finished, then put an end to the communication.  
  
"What do you think happened to Skywalker?" Karrde inquired seriously the moment   
that they were between themselves.  
  
"The straw that broke the Dewback's back," she answered, using one of her   
farmboy's favorite expression to illustrate that he had reached his limit.  
  
And with an evil genius like her former master to strategically pile up the   
straws on her friend's back until the exact moment when he wanted him, needed   
him to break, she understood that her friend was going down the dumps faster   
than anybody could catch him...  
  
Except, perhaps, herself.  
  
As she ran toward her ship, she dimly reminded herself that by going to the   
Rebel base, she was exposing herself to the Emperor's new clone, which he   
probably had if Luke had truly failed to kill them all, but, she heartened   
herself, Luke needed her.  
  
His sake was more important than hers.  
  
TBC in part 2: Catharsis  
  
  
'Copyright' 2003, Skyjade (skyjade@globetrotter.net) 


	23. Part 3: Catharsis

Aftermath: Catharsis  
by SJ 07-00/12-2002 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)  
  
___________________________________________________  
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs   
to George Lucas. Naturally, everything related to events of Dark Empire also   
belong to Tom Veitch.   
  
Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.   
See my home page for more details.   
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702  
  
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for   
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.  
____________________________________________________  
  
  
As Leia gazed at Artoo's visual sensor, she wondered yet again how Mara Jade had   
known that her brother's droid would understand her request to guard his   
master's door.   
  
"You agree, Artoo?" she asked him once again. "Don't let Luke out of his room   
unless either myself, Han, or Mara Jade are with him."  
  
"And give the alarm if anything happens," he completed for her on his   
translation screen.   
  
Unless her brother manipulated the Force and deactivated the droid before he   
could give the alarm, she mused inwardly. In such a case, even Artoo's still   
surprising devotion to his master would not keep the Jedi from eluding them, and   
then...  
  
No, she shook her head in stubborn denial. Her dear, gentle, kind brother would   
not turn again to the Dark Side, especially since he had 'never' willingly   
chosen the darkness, she heartened herself. Surely he wouldn't choose it...   
now.  
  
Now that he was back amongst his friends and family.  
  
Now that he had had a vision of the future about her third child.  
  
Now that the Emperor was dead.  
  
*Luke?* she tentatively reached out.  
  
He didn't speak to her, but his closing their bond between them was as wordy as   
any rebuttal he could have given to her.  
  
He didn't want to see her nor sense her at the moment. He wanted to be left   
alone.  
  
No matter if it left him alone to deal with is morose, defeated attitude, she   
reflected glumly. Reluctantly accepting his request yet again, she withdrew   
from their bond, then checked on Artoo one last time.   
  
She still wasn't sure if the little astromech droid, with which Mara seemed   
quite familiar, would be able to guard the Jedi master, but she knew that short   
of keeping her brother under an ysalimiri veil, nobody else would be able to   
guard him either. Hence, she trusted Mara that Artoo's presence would keep Luke   
in place until they could figure out what was wrong with him.  
  
Besides, she shrugged as she walked away from his door, Luke wasn't a   
prisoner... He was just worrying her a lot and she was only seeking to protect   
him from even himself should things turn bad once again.   
  
On her way to the nearby turbolifts, she reflected that she had rarely seen her   
brother in such a state of utter defeat before. Both other times had been after   
his defeats at their father's hand, when he had lost an important part of   
himself. The first time, he had almost lost his will to live as a Jedi, and the   
second time, his delusions and last remnants of naivete. Both times though, he   
had pulled through.  
  
With her help.  
  
Thus, she had truly expected that her brother would talk to her this time. He   
hadn't.   
  
In a way, she admitted to herself, it hurt her that her brother would turn his   
back to her like this. They had always been close before, had never hid   
anything from the other. Their bond had always been strong, even when they   
hadn't known what it had been. Up till now, they had always been there for one   
another, but not anymore.  
  
Something had happened to her brother while he had been on Byss, and it had   
erected a strong, impregnable wall between even themselves.  
  
She dimly hoped that her own children would never face such a vicious   
interruption of their bond with one another. It was most difficult to bear   
without trying to force her twin to open up again.  
  
As she slowly made her way toward the hangar bays, she prayed the Force that   
Mara Jade would be able to help Luke. Then, perhaps, he would talk to her once   
again.  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
Using the shortest route through hyperspace, balancing her need for speed with   
the risk of not reaching her destination, Mara Jade covered as fast as she could   
the parsecs that were separating her from her best friend.  
  
The moment that she had left the ysalamiri blanket of Karrde's secret base, she   
had felt what Leia had described to her.   
  
Thanks to her bond with the Jedi, his despair and psychological torment now rang   
clearly through her senses. It rang even louder when she finally reached her   
destination.  
  
X-Wings naturally came straight at her, intent on warding her off. "This is   
Mara Jade," she identified herself quickly. "Councilor Organa-Solo has   
contacted me."   
  
"Let her through, Wedge," Leia's voice interrupted the other's beginning of a   
question. "I can feel the truth of her presence."  
  
"All right," the man agreed unconvincingly. "Follow us, but don't stray away   
from between us or we will open fire," he needlessly warned her.  
  
Suppressing a sigh of annoyance, Mara followed her military escort in. They   
swiftly flew past high spires of reddish, large towers of rocks.   
  
As she navigated amongst the natural constructions of stones, she reflected that   
it somewhat reminded her of Coruscant, then that the terrain was excellent to   
hide a secret base, although it wasn't secret anymore, even to their enemy.   
  
Still, she didn't uncover the location of the base proper until her escort took   
her directly to her assigned landing platform.   
  
By the time that she had turned off her skypray blastboat, Skywalker's sister   
was standing beside the ship. Even though Mara didn't know the woman 'that'   
much, she felt how worried she was about her brother.  
  
It put her even more on edge than she already felt.   
  
"Mara," the ex-princess greeted her with relief. "Thanks the Force, you made   
it. For a while, I was worried that you'd run into one of the interdictor   
blockades."  
  
"No," she reassured the smaller woman as she shook her head. "I knew about   
those. So where is he?" she inquired, getting straight to business about why   
she was there. She was unfortunately extremely aware that she was risking her   
protection and refuge in order to help her friend.  
  
"According to Artoo's last report, thirty minutes ago, he is still in his room.   
He hasn't moved around either."  
  
"What can you tell me about what happened to him?" she asked the other while she   
tried to imagine how her friend would go from fighting, even frightfully,   
against what had happened to him, to brooding and locking himself up.   
  
With the Emperor in the background of whatever had recently happened to him, she   
didn't like her possible answer one single bit.  
  
"Not much," Leia shook her head sadly. "He simply refuses to let me in. What I   
know is that he thought that he could destroy the Dark Side by learning its   
secrets. He also wanted to know our father, to understand him. Then, just   
after he came back, he admitted that the path of the Jedi was not a solitary   
one... only to hole up completely a few days later," the young woman sighed   
wearily.  
  
While she listened to the other's summary, Mara shook her head at the   
superficiality of her friend's comments. She now understood that he had been   
keeping away from his sister for a while already. Except for the fact that he   
had wanted to defeat the Dark Side from within, which she could readily imagine   
him attempting, the rest was, well... a lame attempt to cover what had truly   
happened and what was now inhabiting his thoughts.  
  
"Can you help him?" the petite brunette inquired seriously once they were aboard   
a turbolift. "I don't know much about you, but Luke told me that you came back   
from your service to the Emperor, that you defeated what he had done to you."  
  
'With Luke's help', she reflected glumly. "I will do everything that I can to   
pull him out of wherever the Emperor tossed him to control him," she promised   
her companion earnestly.  
  
The lift stopped; they had reached their destination.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Luke was oblivious to his hunger, his tiredness, even his need to change clothes   
and refresh himself a little. He had finally made up his mind about what a no-  
good-Jedi-wannabe like himself had to do now.  
  
He was leaving. He had stood up from his slouch and was busy going through his   
drawers and closet to gather what meager possessions he wanted to take with him   
in his exile. His family's pictures were already in his duffel bag, but his   
lightsaber was still laying where he had thrown it a while ago.   
  
He was leaving, he reminded himself sternly. He would not hurt either himself,   
his family, his friends,... or Mara ever again. He would disappear from their   
lives, would never be at risk to turn into their enemy ever again.  
  
He might even willingly run his ship into a sun once he would be out there, he   
then reflected glumly.  
  
He was a failure, an insignificant fool, but a powerful one.  
  
Too powerful to allow him to live amongst regular beings----  
  
His door suddenly slid open; he whirled around, his hand instantly going for his   
lightsaber, which was missing.  
  
The door closed behind Mara Jade, leaving him with the impossible sight of her   
most unexpected presence. Mara?, he frowned in confusion. No, he shook his   
head in disbelief. He was simply hungry and thirsty and was beginning to   
imagine things. He turned away from his delusion.  
  
"Going somewhere, farmboy?" it inquired teasingly---   
  
He refocused on her, then took a step closer to her, tilting his head slightly   
to see if his mirage would disappear that way. It didn't. "Mara?" he asked in   
bemusement, then extended his hand to touch her.   
  
He met with her solid, soft yet strong arm... She was really here, he gaped in   
utter shock. "What?.. How?.. I thought that..." he stuttered incoherently.  
  
"I was hiding, Luke," she nodded, "until your sister informed me that you were   
looking like Hell, and I must admit that you do," she finished, openly scolding   
him this time.  
  
"But you must not be here," he argued, stepping closer to her. "He can find you   
wherever you are if exposed to his senses, you said so yourself,. You can't   
stay here," he urged her to leave, taking hold of both of her biceps with his   
hands as if to protect her and get her on her way out. "Save yourself while   
it's still time to---"  
  
Instead of shrugging him off though, his friend used their closer positions to   
lock her eyes with his while she too gripped his arms.  
  
  
  
  
  
As she gazed deep into his eyes, she understood better why she had found him the   
way she had.  
  
Still garbed in what was the Emperor's trademark clothes for his dark lords of   
the Sith, he had truly worried her when he had moved to pull his missing   
lightsaber on her, but as she looked deep into the swirling oceans of his eyes,   
she understood that her friend was truly back from the Dark Side. However, he   
was still dragging after him the shame, loss of self-confidence and fear that   
had originally pulled him down into it, way before the Emperor had completed   
what he had begun to do on Corellia.  
  
Long before he had encountered Palpatine himself again and had faced his full   
might.  
  
"Our friendship matters more to me than my safety, Luke," she told him   
soothingly, then shifted her arms until she slowly removed his hands from her   
arms; she held them in her owns. Their rough-leather covers grated at her   
senses. Impulsively, she pulled them off of him with the Force, surprising him   
with her actions. He opened his lips as if to protest; she shook her head at   
him and searched his eyes once again. "Why do you still wear the cloak of   
darkness now that you're free from it?" she asked him pointedly as he gaped in   
continued shock at her actions. "Why do you turn your back to those who love   
you, Luke?"  
  
Flinching at her direct approach, her friend agilely pulled away from her touch   
and turned his back to her, then hung his head and sighed heavily. "I'm not   
worthy to be their friend, nor your friend anymore," he barely whispered in   
shame. "I did unspeakable things, Mara... I," he hesitated briefly, then   
slumped to the floor and sat against his bunk, hanging his head in sadness once   
again. "I can never be the friend that you all once loved."  
  
"That we still love," Mara corrected him as she sat beside him. "As for being   
the same, considering what the Emperor put you through, I don't expect you to be   
the same as when we met, Luke. What I do expect though," she continued more   
gently, "is that you will have faith in the strength of the friendship that we   
had 'before' and that you will allow me, and us, to forgive you."  
  
  
  
  
  
For a brief moment, Luke felt immense relief flood through him, but the moment   
that it encountered the memory of his victims on Mon Calamari, it ebbed to be   
replaced by a new wave of shame. He slumped a little lower on the floor. "How   
can you ever forgive me?" he muttered forlornly. "I know that I ca---"  
  
"Like you yourself forgave us," his gentle friend countered wisely. "Remember?   
You forgave Solo for his selfish attitude, then you forgave Calrissian for   
betraying you and your friends to Vader, and finally, you forgave me for wanting   
to kill you and hurt you."  
  
"That was not the same thing," he objected instantly, locking his eyes with   
hers. "He was manipulating you at that time, you were not awa---"  
  
"You're wrong, Luke," she shook her head. "I was 'very' aware of everything   
that I did while under his order, as your father was. I knew that I was hurting   
people, and I knew that I was cruel while doing my master's bidding, but I did   
it all the same. I had chosen to bow to his will, yet you forgave me, as you   
had forgiven your father aboard the second Death Star."  
  
Luke was speechless.   
  
Mara didn't give him time to gather his thoughts; she continued to reason with   
him. "Remember?," she prompted him again, "you forgave both myself and your   
father even though we had spent more time of our lives serving the Dark Side   
than the Light one. At the moment, the situation is opposite with you. You   
have fallen a little in the Dark Side, but you have devoted the longest part of   
your life to goodness and what your heart dictated to you."  
  
"But I am a Jedi, Mara," he reminded her almost scoldingly. "I have failed my   
vows to the Light---"  
  
"Yet did destroy Palpatine once again," she countered knowingly. "Perhaps   
'this' was the Way of the Force, Luke. Perhaps it knew that you'd be strong   
enough to survive even in the grips of the Emperor, and would eventually turn   
against him once again, like your father had aboard the Death Star."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Mara didn't add anything to her last argument, but she reflected that if Luke's   
challenge with Lecia had obviously been orchestrated by the Emperor, it also   
appeared to be part of his Destiny as a Jedi since it had made him vulnerable to   
the Dark Side, yes, but had also opened to him the only access that they could   
have ever had to defeat the reborn Emperor.   
  
"He's probably reborn again," her friend muttered in defeat. "Whatever I did   
was for nothing."  
  
"Didn't you destroy his clones?" she inquired, remembering Leia's confirmation   
that the Emperor had re-cloned himself between Byss and their last face-off.   
  
"Not all of them," he shook his head, avoiding her gaze once again.   
  
She didn't let him hole up this time; instead, she took a gentle hold on his   
chin and kept him from looking away. As usual, their skin-to-skin touch awoke   
their Force-bond further.   
  
"You still weakened him, Luke," she reassured her glum friend. "I remember his   
telling me that the more transitions he went through, the more difficult they   
became and that they took a little of his immense power every time if he wanted   
to return. I'm sure that the Force knows this too and---"  
  
"What about what he killed in me?" Luke suddenly interrupted her, his eyes   
surprisingly blazing in frustration again even as tears of sorrow appeared in   
them. He sharply pulled his chin out of her hold, then turned away to hide his   
tears. "I know that's what happened, but I don't know what fell under his   
attack," he admitted between two sobs.  
  
"What makes you think that he killed more than hurt something in you?" she   
inquired meaningfully, adamantly refusing to let his arguments convince her that   
the Emperor had destroyed him.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Because it hurt too much to not be a death," Luke whispered while he tried to   
understand why Mara was trying so very hard to make him change his mind about   
everything that he now knew about himself.  
  
She had been through the Dark Side, he wanted to remind her. She 'knew' how it   
was and how he was unable to trust himself anymore.   
  
"Had it died," she answered his previous comment in a comforting voice, "the   
pain would have been less, and you wouldn't be here today..."  
  
What?, he gaped soundlessly even as he turned his head around to gaze at her   
once again. The Emperor's veil would have only knocked unconscious part of him,   
and that part had saved... "How can you know for sure??" he finally half-  
whispered, feeling both hopeful and incredulous in face of her reasoning.  
  
His friend edged slightly closer to him, then gently touched his temple and   
reached out to enter his mind. He reflexively blocked her, then, sensing that   
she wanted to 'show' him something, he followed her inside her memory... then   
his.  
  
*Because,* her gentle voice seemed to whisper in his mind, soothing his bruised   
soul as it did so, *the Emperor can not destroy who we truly are.*   
  
She first invited him inside her own mind and showed him how the evil despot had   
cruelly 'shaped' her into the cool assassin that he had wanted her to be, yet   
even as a child, she showed him, part of her true self had survived. Years   
later, he himself had rekindled it to life.   
  
He could only fall mute at the undeniable truth of her example.  
  
Satisfied by his reaction, she then re-entered his mind and found his memories   
of his father. There, she visually reminded him that no matter how evil the   
older man had been, he had still retained a part of Anakin, which had resurfaced   
in the end in order to save him, and the whole galaxy.  
  
Once again, Luke couldn't think of any argument to refute her example; he was   
stumped by the veracity of her chosen, and somehow ignored, examples.  
  
Then, when he signaled to Mara that he was ready for what she wanted to show him   
next, she surprisingly guided him to the center of his inner self, where she had   
gone when they been on Earth, he dimly remembered while he 'gazed' around   
himself at his known self. Once there, she showed him his true nature, but from   
her own, uninfluenced point of view.  
  
As he had told him, he discovered that he had been gravelly hurt by the veil of   
darkness, even forced mute, but, he also slowly realized that the nothing had   
not been killed either. He was just beginning to heal and recover his true   
self.  
  
Feeling tears of relief form at the corner of his eyes, he gently shut their   
link, then reflexively leaned into her embrace where he sobbed in indescribable   
relief and reborn happiness. He had truly survived the trials once again.  
  
He had been wrong about himself once again, and he had been about to commit the   
worst mistake of his life. "I'm sorry, Mara," he apologized contritely while   
she hugged him soothingly, "I'm sorry for everything."  
  
"Welcome back to the Light, Luke," she comforted him, then added more seriously:   
"About apologies though, I think that you hurt Leia's feelings more than you did   
mine. She was truly worried about you, you know?"  
  
Leia!, he suddenly remembered, then reached out--- and found her worried   
presence just on the other side of the door. Pulling away from Mara's embrace,   
he reached out to open his door even as he mentally invited his sister to join   
them inside.   
  
The moment that she stepped through the door, he engulfed her petite form in a   
Wookiee-like hug, half hiding her in his ominous-yet-Jedi-like cloak. "I'm   
sorry for my coldness, Leia," he apologized earnestly. "I was lost."  
  
"Oh, Luke," she hugged him back, "Don't ever scare me like this again. You know   
that you can always count on me."  
  
"Yes, I know," he reassured her, then refocused on his best friend. "Thank you,   
Mara. I know what you are risking by coming here. I can't thank you enough   
for---"  
  
  
  
  
  
Mara, who was quietly watching the brother/sister reunion, sighed in relief and   
contentment as she felt her friend's spirits lift faster than any turbolift that   
she had ever boarded.  
  
He was truly back now, and the Emperor had lost once again.  
  
More important, she then smirked inwardly, he had lost more than he ever   
expected to, and that, she admitted to herself, greatly pleased her. The mere   
thought that he was probably going through another of his painfully maddening   
transition was even enough revenge for what he had tried to do to her dear   
friend.  
  
However, with the transition came his upcoming return, and personally, she still   
wanted to avoid him at all costs.   
  
As if sensing this, Luke silently nodded at her in understanding. He turned   
toward his sister, who was telling her to join them for dinner. "I'll take Mara   
back to her ship, Leia," he informed her seriously, some of his more somber mood   
resurfacing, although less dark than previously. "She is not safe here."  
  
"I'd go further and say that he isn't either," the red-head retorted seriously,   
"but the Emperor didn't forge a link with him... as he did with me."  
  
"You're talking as if..." Leia frowned, then paused... "Is he coming back?" she   
asked, her smile turning to a worried pout.  
  
"Most probably," both Jedi knights nodded forlornly.   
  
"It will take him a while to complete the transition," Mara added, "but if one   
of his body survived Skywalker's attack, then sadly, we're not done with him   
yet."  
  
"Then be safe, Mara," Leia answered seriously, then stepped closer and quickly   
hugged her.   
  
Surprised by the other's sudden warmth, Mara returned the embrace as best as she   
could, then pulled away from it. "Take care of him, Princess, and if something   
goes wrong again," she smirked at her dear friend, "you know how to reach me."  
  
"Which I still don't, by the way," he retorted playfully.  
  
"Call it safety-insurance, farmboy," she ribbed him. "But you can always try to   
make me change my mind on the way to the hangar bay."  
  
Smirking at her challenge, Luke called his discarded lightsaber to his hand and   
attached it to his belt, then he, his sister, and herself walked out of the   
small room. They separated paths at the turbolifts.  
  
They were once again alone.  
  
  
  
  
  
At first, Luke slightly shifted from one foot to another in uneasiness, then he   
finally worked up the courage to turn his head toward his friend and face her   
once again.  
  
"You truly are getting excellent in that friendship business, Mara," he teased   
her lightly, referring to a conversation that they had once had about her not   
being a good friend. "I certainly never expected to see you now that we 'did'   
know that the Emperor was alive."  
  
"I'm full of surprises," she shrugged, briefly reminding him of himself as a   
brash youth.  
  
He quirked his lips a little at that thought. Brashness, brazenness... Those   
had died within him now. From now on, he would know better than to throw   
himself head first into the obviously dangerous unknown.  
  
"Luke," Mara began in the silence. "I," she hesitated slightly, "I don't know   
if you realized this, but what happened on Corellia was the Emperor's doing, not   
the Force, or not entirely the Force at any rate," she shrugged feebly. "Either   
way thought," she continued more seriously, "I think that he knew how you would   
react to this after what had happened to you on Earth."  
  
"Yes, I know," he nodded, then turned his whole body in order to truly face her.   
He then reached out and kept the turbolift from reaching its destination just   
yet, blocking it between two floors. If Mara was surprised by his action, she   
did not give him any outward sign that she was. "I've also been thinking about   
that," he admitted, "Now I can see where I was wrong about my understanding of   
the challenge," he continued, his voice taking on a softer, more intimate range.  
  
"...And?" she prompted him hesitantly. She too was facing him now, her eyes   
reminding him of when he had told her that he couldn't love her anymore, after   
Corellia.  
  
"While you, or women in general, are not dangerous and that I can trust you with   
my heart," he reassured her softly, "my emotions are still my sole enemy in   
everything," he reluctantly admitted once again. "When I thought that I was   
facing the Emperor, I was in fact facing my own dark self. The Emperor was   
merely tapping into it, but I was the sole reason why it happened. I can't   
control the others," he finished wisely, "but I can control my own emotions."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
While Mara felt her hopeful heart flinch once again at his new confirmation that   
he couldn't be in love with her, she couldn't, in her heart, either condemn him   
nor be angry at him.  
  
He was right. It was what he had taught her, and what constantly got 'him' into   
trouble: his out-of-control goodness and earnestness to make things right for   
everyone.  
  
Even when he had joined the Emperor, his main goal had been to right the wrongs   
of the whole universe. Sadly though, he had only ended up being a problem   
himself before he had woken up, but too late.  
  
Considering how powerful her friend was, she truly understood, and began to   
accept, that the Force's will in his case was to teach him control of himself.  
  
As for her own Destiny, she reflected sadly, perhaps it was to not be able to   
love the man that she loved because of her sins of the past... "I understand,   
Luke," she reassured him as steadily as she could although she had long avoided   
his beautiful eyes.   
  
To her surprise, he stepped closer to her and gently made her look back up at   
him. "But there's one thing that I have also understood," he soothingly   
continued his previous idea, "and that is that the Jedi path truly is not a   
solitary one. Thank you, Mara, for teaching me this lesson today."  
  
"You're---"  
  
Before she could finish her sentence, her companion had leaned closer and rested   
his lips against her owns, shocking her mute even as she gazed confusedly at   
him.   
  
Then, as his lips lingered against hers, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the   
electrifying touch, noticing how wonderful it felt. Then, slowly, she realized   
that he was not moving around as a passionate lover would, nor did he expect her   
to answer him. Yet, she could feel that he loved her as much as she loved him.   
  
He finally pulled away, a second and a half later although it had felt like an   
eternity to her. "Thank you, Mara. I will never be able to thank you enough   
for everything that you did for me," he finished gently, then kissed her   
forehead before he physically pulled away from her.  
  
Still reeling under the shock of his most unexpected behavior, Mara wasn't fast   
enough to pull him back against herself for another, much more demanding kiss.   
  
By the time that she did think about this, the lift had already resumed its   
course down and had even reached its destination.  
  
The doors slid open; they both walked through, lost in their thoughts. Since   
the surrounding corridors were crowded and not offering her any new occasion to   
talk to him about what had happened in the lift, or even try to push it further,   
they reached the hangar bay.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
After a quick exchange of platonic farewells, Mara lifted off, leaving Luke   
alone once again. However, unlike the last time that they had parted company,   
Luke wasn't morose. Instead, he was suddenly filled with a new energy to be   
true to what he had promised to his sister a few days ago.  
  
He wanted to make the Jedi rise again, for real this time.  
  
And the one person he had to thank for this, and more, was his best friend...   
whom he loved but couldn't love passionately.   
  
As he watched her ship gain altitude, he gently ran his index along his lower   
lip, remembering how wonderful he had felt when he had been kissing her. Oh, he   
conceded to himself, it had not been the impassioned kiss that he would have   
given her right after Wayland if he had known how deeply he would someday feel   
for her, nor had it been the out-of-control kiss that he would have given her on   
Earth if she had been ready. Instead, it had been a controlled, gentle touch of   
his lips against hers, the only way that he could show her that he did love her   
too...  
  
Love was not prohibited to him, he now understood, but he had to deal with it,   
and every other feeling of his life, as a Jedi... Master, he grimaced at the   
word.   
  
He was barely a Jedi Knight, having given himself that title after his first   
meeting with the Emperor. He couldn't be a master after only six extra years of   
self-learning and training, could he? Still, he sighed, the others were already   
used to calling him that way. Better let them be, he decided. He himself would   
simply do as best as he could with what he knew as well as what he had learnt   
the hard way once again.   
  
Reaching out one last time for his friend's presence, he bared his heart to her   
once again, as he had on Earth. For the last time of his life, he did so   
without controlling his emotions for his friend.   
  
*I love you, Mara.*  
  
  
  
  
  
In her skypray, Mara felt a new tear of joy and regret slide down her cheek as   
she caught the barely whispered sending of her friend.  
  
She had been right moments ago, she nodded to herself even as she tried to   
answer him. The kiss that he had given her had been one of love, not of   
friendship.   
  
However, after what he had told her, he hadn't allowed himself to be   
demonstrative, but he 'had' shown her that he would still love her the way that   
he would be able to.   
  
Gently, softly... serenely.  
  
*And I will still love you too, Luke,* she sent him.  
  
She was already too far; he didn't hear her.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
Epilogue:  
  
  
That night, unbeknown to Mara, Luke and his friends utterly defeated the   
Emperor. A Jedi had sacrificed himself and had taken the Emperor with him into   
the realm of the after-life...  
  
Finally lifting whatever bonds he had maintained on both hers and Luke's minds,   
thus freeing them from his dark veil while opening the way to a more friendly   
guardian to intervene, at last.  
  
  
  
Mara was back on Tatooine, running for her life. Behind her, a sandstorm was   
quickly catching on her, intent on burying her forever.  
  
She finally reached the targeted hut, rushed inside, then, hearing noises of   
complaint, realized that she had a companion and returned in the storm to save   
him too. As a Jedi, she simply couldn't abandon whoever that was.  
  
Using the Force to find his presence, she found him, then grabbed hold of--- a   
well-remembered farmboy tunic and guided him back inside the emergency hut. She   
had barely closed the door that a new opening seemed to appear for the howling   
wind. The youth instantly took hold of a nearby table and wedged it in the sole   
window of the building, then they both caught their breaths and collapsed to   
their knees, exhausted.  
  
While she used her tricks to catch her breath faster, Mara tried to peer through   
the near darkness; she simply 'wanted' to see the features of her companion,   
whom she almost remembered now. Suddenly remembering that she had had a pocket   
luma that day, she shed her Tatooinian robe and pulled it out from her utility   
belt.   
  
"Thank you," a very familiar, if younger-sounding, voice suddenly told her   
earnestly in the surrounding silence. "I will never be able to thank you enough   
for everything that you did for me."  
  
And then, at last, she knew who was the farmboy; she hurried to turn on her   
portable lamp---- and gaped as Luke's young, sand-scorched,... suddenly well-  
remembered features were revealed to her once again.  
  
"Luke!", she exclaimed in great joy, then, ignoring his scorches, threw herself   
in his arms and kissed him like she now remembered kissing him and making love   
to him, all those years ago.  
  
Back on Tatooine, when they had been sixteen years old-----  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Luke truly was her farmboy!!!, Mara thought instantly even as she sat bolt   
upright on her bunk. The eerie resemblance between the two men had not been a   
result of her imagination; they had been latent memories---  
  
"Commander Jade!!" a Mystril guard suddenly called from behind her door,   
startling her once again, but this time in an unpleasant way. "You've got to   
come quickly!!"  
  
Picking up her blaster from under her pillow, she threw on a long shirt, then   
ran out of her room. The strong woman barely nodded in greetings at her, then   
ran as fast as she could, guiding her toward the end of the corridor.   
  
"What's going on? Are we being attacked?" the red-head inquired as her bare   
feet slapped on the cool decking of hers and Karrde's new base.  
  
"No," the other shook her head, then finally stopped once they were inside the   
main communication room of the base. There, Karrde, Aves, and most members of   
their groups were already gathered and cheering in obvious victory.  
  
"What's the matter?" she queried, bemused.  
  
Karrde turned toward her, a rare, genuine grin filling his face. "The war is   
over, Mara. Organa-Solo had already confirmed it to me, but the news are   
official now. The Emperor is dead, for real this time. This is confirmed by   
Skywalker himself, and..."  
  
Mara didn't hear the rest of her friend's report.   
  
The Emperor was dead.  
  
The man who had still been controlling her life by forcing her to hide... was   
dead.   
  
Suddenly remembering her dream, and everything that she had not been able to   
remember until now, she understood what 'he' had truly done to her when he had   
sent her the order to kill Skywalker. That vile fiend had known that she would   
recognize her long-lost lover in Skywalker, she realized in both horror and   
rage. How he had known about him, she didn't want to consider, but the fact   
still remained that he had blocked her memories of her beloved farmboy to ensure   
his revenge over Vader... as well as her betrayal as a youth!   
  
Unusually terrified by the prospect of what had almost happened, she felt her   
knees give under her... and would have completely crumpled to the floor if not   
for the sudden assistance of both Karrde and the guard who had come to fetch   
her.   
  
"Mara, are you all right?" Karrde inquired even as he signaled to Aves to send a   
chair rolling their way.  
  
"I," she hesitated, feeling both sickened and relieved at the same time. "I...   
I think that I just can't believe that he's truly gone."  
  
But he was, she reminded herself, and she hadn't killed her beloved farmboy.   
Instead, they were already best friend, and they loved each other again,   
although circumstances were making that complicated for both of them. Still,   
she tried to hearten herself. There was hope. Now that she knew the truth   
about the man she loved, the man that she had always loved, she could undo the   
block that she had set around his mind, then perhaps...  
  
  
  
  
  
Hidden in the current of the Force, Anakin Skywalker smiled fondly at both   
Mara's senses and his son's. While he knew that Mara would not be able to undo   
his son's block now that he had chosen to become a 'true' Jedi, he himself could   
still influence the memory block so that next time that the two soul mates would   
kiss, Luke too would both recover his complete memory of his and Mara's first   
encounter as well as understand that passionate love was 'not' going against his   
vows to the Light.   
  
In the meantime though, now that the Emperor's veil of control had disappeared   
from his son's mind, he himself could influence the newly-freed memories of a   
shadowy red-head girl into Mara returning to Luke... and kissing him.  
  
Ever since he had become one with the Force, Anakin had tried to undo the evil   
manipulations that the Emperor had operated on both Luke's and Mara's memories   
about their true identities, but the presence of the reborn Emperor had   
completely blocked him away from accessing even his son's soul. Thus, he had   
been reduced to watching as the evil darksider had pulled the youths' strings in   
order to accomplish his evil plans. He had naturally sighed in relief every   
time that the Force itself had intervened to foul Palpatine's plans.   
  
Still, he had worried when Luke had finally crossed path with Mara, then had   
felt proud of him when the young Jedi had followed his heart and befriended the   
young assassin despite her acerb nature. Finally, he had sighed in relief when   
Mara had saved his son on Wayland. From that day forth, her danger had been   
over for his precious son, but, he reflected sadly, it had far from been the   
beginning of Peace for Luke. He himself had cringed and tried to influence   
events when he had witnessed what had befallen the young Jedi next. He had   
especially begun to lose faith in the Force when even his Lightbringer of a Son   
had fallen to the Dark Side, but in the end, what he himself, as well as Leia   
and Mara had retained of trust in the All-Powerful Force had been proven   
worthwhile once again.   
  
And now, the darkness was truly dead, he smiled to himself in relief. His son   
and his soul mate were also 'mostly' on the right path to join together in a   
relatively near future, and he himself could finally make sure that it 'would'   
happen sooner than later.   
  
The youths had suffered enough, he decided in fatherly care; it was time for   
them to be happy.  
  
As for his daughter, he reflected more wistfully, he wished that he could   
contact her only once again to tell her how proud he was of her as well as how   
honored he felt that his new grandson had been named after him.  
  
Content and at peace, Anakin Skywalker watched his family, as well as future   
daughter-in-law, as they began to live without being under any influence of the   
Emperor.  
  
  
  
'Copyright' 2003, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net) 


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